Azarenka knocked out of China Open

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus was knocked out of the China Open in the first-round stage with a three-set defeat from Germany’s Andrea Petkovic (WTA No.43) on 30 September.

Andrea Petkovic broke the Belarusian twice in the first and third sets to win the match 4-6, 6-2, 4-6. The match lasted for two hours and 23 minutes. It is Petkovic’s first victory over Azarenka in three face-to-face encounters.

The German player will face Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, ranked 25 in the world, who eased past Su-Wei Hsien of China 6-1, 6-1.

It was the fifth China Open in Victoria Azarenka’s career, and she failed to repeat her last year’s success when she beat Russia’s Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-2 in the final. This time the Russian, ranked third in the world, is out of the competitions in Beijing due to her shoulder injury.

A week ago Victoria Azarenka lost her second-round match to Venus Williams of the United States at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

World number one Serena Williams of the United States easily got past Russia’s Yelena Vesnina 6:4, 6:2 in the opener to book a second-round meeting against Italy’s Francesco Schiavone (50).

Belarus’ Olga Govortsova, paired with Poland’s Alicja Rosolska, lost to U.S. duo Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 1:6, 1:6 in the women’s doubles first-round match at the China Open.

Belarus Max Mirnyi and Romania’s Horia Tecau will meet the international duo of Julien Benneteau (France) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) in the men’s doubles opener.

The competition in China will conclude on 6 October.