- Madrid Open
Fuming Azarenka crashes out in Madrid
Victoria Azarenka issued a withering attack on umpire Mariana Alves as she slumped to a shock 1-6 6-2 6-3 second-round defeat by world No. 24 Ekaterina Makarova at the Mutua Madrid Open.
After picking up a second code violation for smashing her racket in anger in the third set, the No. 3 seed reportedly asked the official: "After all you've done, how are you still in the game?"
Azarenka, a beaten finalist at La Caja Magica in 2011 and 2012, looked to be in control of the match after breezing through the first set, but as her game went downhill her petulant behaviour became the defining feature of the match.
The Belarusian, previously unbeaten in 2013, looked to have regained control of both the match and her emotions with a break early in the third set, only to suffer a second meltdown and allow Makarova to reel off five games in succession to seal the win.
The defeat and likely reprimand are the latest blows in a season that had started so well for Azarenka. After defending her Australian Open title and beating world No. 1 Serena Williams to claim the Qatar Open title, an ankle injury forced her to forego the defence of her BNP Paribas Open title in Indian Wells.
The 23-year-old looked to have proven her return to fitness after edging past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with two tie-breaks in the first round, but Makarova capitalised as her timing deserted her to set up a third-round showdown with No. 14 seed Marion Bartoli.
World No. 6 Angelique Kerber had to come from a set down to defeat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6 6-4 7-5 in their third round tie. The No. 6 seed came through a tough two hours 17 minutes on court, and will now face either Ana Ivanovic or Laura Robson in the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere, Estonia's Kaia Kanepi beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-3 6-1, while American Varvara Lepchenko was handed a spot in the third round when Germany's Julia Goerges withdrew through illness.