Petkovic stuns careless Azarenka
Print Edition
Reigning China Open champion Victoria Azarenka crashed out in the first round yesterday as the second seed faced stiff resistance from former finalist Andrea Petkovic in Beijing.
The Belarusian world No. 2 rarely showed glimpses of the form which helped her claim the title last year, at times appearing sluggish as she committed a staggering 15 double faults in the 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 loss.
It is the second straight early exit for the 24-year-old, who complained of feeling ill when she was defeated by Venus Williams in the second round of the Pan Pacific Open last week.
China’s Zhang Shuai continued her sizzling form, defeating compatriot Peng Shuai 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round match against 10th-seeded Roberta Vinci.
Wild-card Zhang won her first WTA title in Guangzhou earlier this month.
The 24-year-old recruited her own coach in July, following Chinese star Li Na’s example, and raising hopes she can emulate the success of the 2011 French Open winner.
It was a successful day for three Serbian players.
Eighth seed Jelana Jankovic overcame Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1-6, 6-4, 6-0. Compatriot Ana Ivanovic claimed victory over Italian Flavia Pennetta 7-6 (9), 6-1.
Ivanovic had been trailing 5-1 in the first set.
“I really struggled to find my rhythm in the beginning. I felt the ball was flying,” she said.
“I didn’t really think I could come back in the first set, but I really played well and stepped up when it was very tight, so that gave me confidence.”
Bojana Jovanovski rounded off a hat-trick for the Serbians, beating Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-2.
Also in the first round, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard defeated Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4, 6-1 and Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova swept aside Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei 6-1, 6-1.
In second round action, Sara Errani (5) of Italy defeated Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-2.
In men’s action, China’s top-ranked player Zhang Ze was knocked out by Bernard Tomic 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Tomic will now take on fifth-seeded Richard Gasquet.
“Now he has grown a lot and he is more serious on every single point when he plays,” Zhang Ze said of Tomic.
Lleyton Hewitt upset seventh-seeded Tommy Haas 7-6 (6), 6-3. Other winners included Fabio Fognini and Philipp Kohlschreiber.
In women’s doubles, wild-card entrants Serena and Venus Williams lost 6-7 (3), 6-4, 11-9 to Liezel Huber and Chinese Taipei’s Chan Hao-ching.
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