Victoria Azarenka's China Open title defence wilted as
she was sent crashing out at the first hurdle by former finalist Andrea
Petkovic 6-4 2-6 6-4.
The world No 2 rarely showed glimpses of the form which
helped her claim the title last year, although she faced stiff resistance from
the German in Beijing's National Tennis Centre.
Azarenka's 15 double faults, to go with 44 unforced
errors, mirrored her erratic display and followed her second-round defeat by
Venus Williams in Tokyo last week when she complained of feeling ill.
The 24-year-old Belarusian appeared agitated in the
opening set, even before German Petkovic broke her serve following a string of
double faults.
But Petkovic looked in discomfort in the second, needing
a medical time out, and she went on to lose seven straight games as Azarenka
forced the decider.
However, the 2011 finalist then seized the initiative in
the third set, claiming victory in two hours and 22 minutes.
In the day's other matches, China's Zhang Shuai continued
her fine form, defeating compatriot Peng Shuai 6-3 6-3 to set up a second-round
match against tenth seed Roberta Vinci.
It was a successful day for three Serbian players.
Ivanovic fightback
Eighth seed Jelana Jankovic needed three sets to overcome
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1-6 6-4 6-0 while compatriot Ana Ivanovic
claimed victory over Italian Flavia Pennetta 7-6 (11/9) 6-1, despite 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 Taiwan 6-1 6-1.
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