Top seed Victoria Azarenka withdraws from Mexico Open through injury
Thursday 25 February 2016 00:00, UK
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 in her first event since falling in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open to eventual champion Angelique Kerber.
The former world No 1 from Belarus, now ranked 14th, had needed two hours to beat Slovenia's Polona Hercog in three sets in her opening match on Tuesday.
Wednesday's withdrawal from the ATP and WTA hardcourt tournament is 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.
