MADRID: World No.3 Victoria Azarenka became the latest big name to crash out of the Madrid Open as she was beaten 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 by Russian Ekaterina Makarova in the second round on Wednesday.
Azarenka had looked as if she would cruise into the last-16 early on as she dominated the world No.24 in the first set for the loss of just one game. However, Makarova turned the match on its head in the second set as she broke early on and again with Azarenka serving at 2-5 to force the match into a decider. There were even more twists and turns in the third as Azarenka again appeared to take control as she surged into a 2-0 lead, but the double Australian Open champion then fell to pieces with a string of unforced errors that allowed Makarova back onto level terms at 3-3. And Azarenka barely even made the Russian earn it in the final game as she sailed well long three times to bow out with a whimper.
On the men's side, last year's finalist and sixth seed Tomas Berdych stayed on course for a quarterfinal meeting with Andy Murray as he recovered from a set down against Jerzy Janowicz to win 6-7(3/7), 6-3, 6-2.
And 14th seed Kei Nishikori will face Roger Federer in the third round after he beat Victor Troicki 7-5, 6-2.
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