• French Open, Day Eight

Top seed Azarenka crashes out in Paris

ESPN staff
June 3, 2012
Dominika Cibulkova won in straight sets against Victoria Azarenka © PA Photos
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World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka could not hide her rage as she went out of the French Open at the fourth-round stage against Dominika Cibulkova.

Azarenka, the top seed, smashed her racket against the court more than once during the second set of her 6-2 7-6(4) defeat to the 15th seed.

Azarenka teetered on the brink in her first-round match against Alberta Brianti, before seeming to steady herself across the subsequent two contests.

However, only Maria Sharapova had dropped fewer games in her first three matches than Cibulkova, and the Slovakian carried that form on to triumph for only the second time in nine meetings with Azarenka.

Cibulkova won 16 of the 27 points contested on Azarenka's serve in the first set, while the latter could convert just one of the six break points she was offered.

In the second Azarenka looked steadier - apart from the occasions on which she lost her temper - and, having been 4-2 down, had the chance to serve for the set. She blew it, Cibulkova won the tiebreaker and will now face Sam Stosur, who had to dig deep to see off Sloane Stephens 7-5 6-4.

Elsewhere in the quarter-finals, Sara Errani, the 21st seed, will meet tenth seed Angelique Kerber.

Errani ended a five-match losing run against Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2009 Roland Garros champion, by winning 6-0 7-5. Kuznetsova served for the second set at one point, but coughed up that game with four unforced errors - and she never recovered, allowing the Italian to progress.

Meanwhile, Kerber took care of unseeded Petra Martic of Croatia, strolling to a routine 6-3 7-5 success. Kerber won her only previous meeting against Errani.

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