Davis defeats injured Azarenka

Victoria Azarenka: Beaten in straight sets by Lauren Davis at Indian Wells

An injured Victoria Azarenka limped out of the BNP Paribas Open with a second-round loss to America’s Lauren Davis.

Azarenka hadn’t played since the Australian Open because of a foot injury and it quickly became apparent against Davis that the Belarusian was far from fully fit.

The third seed struggled with her movement and on serve, double-faulting 12 times, and looked in a severe amount of pain as she crashed out 6-0 7-6 (7-2).

“I wanted to give my best shot,” said Azarenka. “Obviously it was maybe a little bit too early but I gave a fight.

“I’m pretty proud of whatever I did today. I think it’s pretty good considering what I have been through.

“I want to learn how to go through the tough thing, how to try to do the best in the toughest situation.

“Sometimes it takes time. It’s a process to go through.”

The other top names fared better, led by second seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who defeated Great Britain’s Heather Watson 6-4 6-3 a day after celebrating her 25th birthday.

Tenth seed Caroline Wozniacki has a lot of ranking points to defend after reaching the final in Indian Wells last year and she began her campaign with a 6-1 6-3 win over Bojana Jovanovski.

There were also comfortable wins for top-10 seeds Simona Halep, Jelena Jankovic and Sara Errani.

Errani next meets Australian Open semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard, who eased to a 6-2 6-2 win over Peng Shuai.

There was an overdue win, meanwhile, for Errani’s doubles partner Roberta Vinci, who defeated US teenager Madison Keys 6-3 6-3.

Vinci had lost all six of her previous singles matches this season and broke down in tears in her post-match interview.