World number two Victoria Azarenka crashed out of the opening round of competitions at the China Open 2013 in Beijing on Monday after she was ousted by former top-ten player Andrea Petkovic of Germany 4-6, 6-2, 4-6. Azarenka is the defending champion of this Premier Mandatory hardcourt event while Petkovic is a former finalist in this event (2011).
“I’m very happy with my performance,” Petkovic said. “I was happy with my movement and my serve for the most part, and I managed to get a lot of balls back very deep and very strong. Parts of the match were a really, really good level – some parts I lost a bit of energy, but overall I’m very happy.”
“I always play really well here,” Petkovic said. “I lost in the first round here last year but I was playing Jelena Jankovic, who was playing really well that day. I really like the courts – I really like the atmosphere and center court. I don’t know, it’s just a tournament that goes with my play somehow!”
Petkovic will next face two-time champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the second round. Kuznetsova eliminated Hsieh Su-Wei earlier in the day 6-1, 6-1.
The loss means that Azarenka has dropped her opening round matches in two consecutive tournaments. A week ago, the Belarusian was ousted by Venus Williams at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
