French Open: World No.1 Azarenka crashes out

Paris : World No 1 Victoria Azarenka has joined the growing number of top players to crash out of the French Open tennis after a straight-sets defeat to Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round of the women singles here Sunday.

Cibulkova controlled the first set and was a break up in the second before top seed Azarenka launched a comeback, only for the Slovakian to hold her nerve in the tiebreak for a 6-2, 7-6(4) win. The defeat was Azarenka`s fourth of a season in which she has won the Australian Open and three other titles, while Cibulkova beat the Belarusian for only the second time in nine meetings, not including a walkover in Rome last month. A host of big names have been knocked out of the women`s draw at Roland Garros, including Agnieszka Radwanska, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. Earlier, Russia`s Svetlana Kuznetsova failed to live up to the standard of her French Open third-round thrashing of Radwanska as she slumped to a straight-sets loss to Italy`s Sara Errani. Kuznetsova, the 2009 champion at Roland Garros, was routed in the first set but served for the second a 5-4 up before Errani broke back to seal a 6-0, 7-5 win to book her place in the quarterfinals. For the Italian, it was the second match in a row that she scalped a former French Open champion, after ousting Ana Ivanovic in the third round. Errani`s opponent at the quarterfinal stage will be German 10th seed Angelique Kerber, who beat Petra Martic of Croatia 6-3, 7-5 in the last 16. IANS