Fifth seed Azarenka quits French Open with injury

Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka reacts after hurting herself during her game against Italy’s Karin Knapp during their women’s first round match at the Roland Garros 2016 French Tennis Open in Paris on May 24, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Eric FEFERBERG

Fifth seed Victoria Azarenka was knocked out of the French Open on Tuesday when she was forced to retire from her opening round tie with a knee injury.

Former world number one and two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka went down 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 4-0 to Italy’s world number 118 Karin Knapp.

Azarenka, semi-finalist in 2013, hurt her knee midway through the second set and required a medical timeout.

She saved a match point in the tie-break but after a second session of treatment in the decider, she called it quits.

Azarenka’s defeat was good news for defending champion Serena Williams who she was seeded to meet in the quarter-finals.

The Belarusian was one of the form players of 2016 with a record of 26-2.

But one of her defeats was on clay this month in Rome while she handed young American Louisa Chirico a walkover in Madrid because of a back injury.

For Knapp, it was a first career win over a top 10 player and first at Roland Garros since 2008.

The 28-year-old will face Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova for a place in the last 32.