Victoria Azarenka pulls out of Mexico Open due to injury

Mexico City: Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the Mexico Open in Acapulco on Wednesday with a left wrist injury, sending Dominika Cibulkova into the third round.

Azarenka was playing her first event since falling in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open to eventual champion Angelique Kerber.

The former world number one from Belarus, now ranked 14th in the world, had needed two hours to beat Slovenia`s Polona Hercog in three sets in the first-round on Tuesday.

Wednesday`s withdrawal from the ATP and WTA hardcourt tournament was another setback for a player who displayed strong form early in 2016, having apparently moved on from the injuries and personal issues that hampered her career over the past two years.

Slovakia`s Cibulkova next faces either Sweden`s Johanna Larsson, the sixth seed, or American Shelby Rogers.