TOKYO — Venus Williams upset top-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday to advance to the third round of the Pan Pacific Open. Venus, making her first appearance in the Tokyo tournament since 2009, took advantage of six-double faults by Azarenka, who struggled with her game from the outset at Ariake Colosseum. Azarenka said after Tuesday's match that she wasn't well and hadn't been able to practice for three days because of her condition. Azarenka, who lost to Serena Williams in the final of the US Open, broke Venus to make it 4-4 in the second set after trailing 4-2. But Venus came right back in the next game to go up 5-4 and then served out to win the match in 1 hour, 21 minutes. Venus next faces No. 13-seeded Simona Halep of Romania, who defeated Germany's Andrea Petkovic 7-6 (4), 6-3. In other second-round matches, second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland defeated Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak 7-6 (5), 6-0. Fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark overpowered Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-3. Svetlana Kuznetsova also advanced by beating third-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 6-4, 6-4. Kuznetsova, a two-time major winner, hit seven aces in the match. The Russian and will next face 15th-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania. Cirstea beat Japanese wild-card entry Misaki Doi 6-1, 6-2. Canada's Eugenie Bouchard defeated ninth-seeded Sloane Stephens of the US 5-7, 7-6 (7), 6-3. Bouchard will next play sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, who beat Japan's Ayumi Morita 6-4, 6-1. Other winners include Samantha Stosur, Ana Ivanovic, Dominika Cibulkova and Madison Keys. Rosol squeezes by Kubot In Bangkok, eighth-seeded Lukas Rosol smashed 16 aces as he continued an upturn in form with a three-set win over Poland's Lukasz Kubot at the Thailand Open Tuesday. The giant Czech, who has endured a dismal run since claiming his breakthrough ATP title in April, beat Kubot 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2). Right-handed Rosol, who stands at six feet five inches (196 centimetres) tall, relied on his booming serve on the Bangkok hard court to secure passage into the second round. Elsewhere, Slovak Lukas Lacko moved into the second round by beating Colombia's Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-2. It was more bad news for Colombia when Japan's Go Soeda defeated Santiago Giraldo 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. A back injury for Ivo Karlovic helped Australian Bernard Tomic advance into the second round as his Croation opponent quit trailing 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 4-2. Australian Marinko Matosevic joined Tomic as a winner as he crushed Thai wild card Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul 6-1, 6-1. Davydenko makes shock exit In Kuala Lumpur, Russia's Nikolay Davydenko blamed a wrist injury for his shock first-round defeat at the Malaysian Open Tuesday.The world No. 45, who won the tournament in its inaugural year in 2009, said he has been suffering from the injury for some time but ATP rules did not allow him to withdraw. He lost 6-3, 6-4 to Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas. Cuevas saved six of seven break points as he defeated former world No. 3 Davydenko in just 84 minutes. Cuevas will face Ryan Harrison or last week's St. Petersburg Open semifinalist Joao Sousa later this week. Murray on the mend Wimbledon champion Andy Murray is on the mend after undergoing minor surgery on his back. The 26-year-old Scot gave the thumbs up sign lying in his hospital bed in a picture he posted on his Twitter account to show he was in good spirits after the operation. The world No. 3 announced last week that he had decided to have a minor operation to sort out a disc problem in his lower back that has been bothering him for most of this year. That means it is unlikely he will play again this year missing the last four tournaments of the season in Asia, Paris and the World Tour Finals in London. Cilic faked injury Croatia's Marin Cilic pulled out of this year's Wimbledon Championships with a knee injury in order to avoid the “adverse publicity” from a failed drugs test, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced Tuesday. Cilic was banned for nine months last week for testing positive for a banned supplement and Tuesday saw the ITF's independent anti-doping tribunal publish the full findings of his case. The No. 10 seed at Wimbledon, having lost in the final of the Queen's grasscourt warm-up tournament in London to Britain's Andy Murray, pulled out of his Grand Slam match against France's Kenny de Schepper on June 26 having accepted a provisional suspension for a positive test. However, he cited a knee injury as the reason and with seven players in all withdrawing there was speculation the hardness of Wimbledon's courts was behind the unusual number of injury-enforced pull-outs. — Agencies
