• BNP Paribas Open

Kuznetsova crashes out at Indian Wells

Svetlana Kuznetsova cut a frustrated figure at Indian Wells © Getty Images

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Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova is out of the BNP Paribas Open after she was beaten in the second round by Carla Suarez Navarro.

The unseeded Navarro triumphed in three sets on Saturday, sending shockwaves through the women's draw with a 6-4 4-6 6-1 victory. Kuznetsova was broken six times by her Spanish opponent, who simply punished anything short on the second serve.

Navarro won over half of the points when Kuznetsova was forced to take something off her serve, and it proved costly for the tournament favourite who was broken twice in the first set and three times in the final set.

Post-match, Kuznetsova admitted her frustration. "The ball doesn't go where I want it to go. I play tennis for like 17 years and I still cannot put this little ball in this huge court. It's frustrating. … I'm not the worst player in the world, so definitely I have [the] expectation from myself to put a little bit more inside of the court," she said.

Two-time champion Kim Clijsters won her second-round match, easing past Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-2 6-1. Afterwards, she insisted she had nothing to prove to anyone, having returned from a two-year hiatus in 2009.

"I didn't come back to prove to anybody that I'm a good tennis player. I'm doing this for myself. It's my choice, which is a luxury to have. Obviously I want to do well at the tournaments, but I also want to make sure that when I go to the tournaments I'm hungry and I'm eager to get out there," she said.

Victoria Azarenka marched into the third round, beating Sybille Bammer in straight sets. Azarenka was devastating in the first set against Austrian opponent Bammer, claiming 80 per cent of points against the second serve to race into a 6-1 lead. Bammer responded admirably in the second half of the contest, but she could not prevent a 6-1 7-5 defeat.

Third seed Azarenka dropped her own serve just once in either set as she completed the job inside 90 minutes, maintaining a first-serves-in success rate of 72 per cent. By contrast, Bammer was broken on five occasions as her Bulgarian opponent dominated from the baseline.

Ninth seed Flavia Pennetta relied upon her power game to advance to the third round with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Petra Kvitkova. Pennetta's serve was far from consistent but she still managed seven aces against her Czech opponent, who she broke on five occasions in the match.

Also through is 13th seed Yanina Wickmayer, who defeated Julia Goerges 6-2 6-4, and 27th seed Agnes Szavay, who saw off Yung-Jan Chan 6-3 6-2

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