Laura Robson’s Southern California Open campaign was abruptly ended as Petra Kvitova demolished the Brit 6-1 6-2 in the second round, while Victoria Azarenka encountered few problems in her opener in Carlsbad.
The British number one, who had fought back from the brink of defeat to win her first-round encounter with Ayumi Morita, had nothing left in the tank against former Wimbledon champion Kvitova.
The world number seven raced into an early lead, breaking Robson twice to take the opening set for the loss of just a single game.
It was a commanding position which the Czech would not relinquish and, while Robson was able to break her serve once in the second set, Kvitova ultimately eased to a victory which went some way to exacting revenge for her Australian Open defeat to the Brit earlier this year.
Kvitova’s win came in just under an hour and quarter and the third seed moves on to meet either Carla Suárez or Virginie Razzano.
World number three Azarenka had no problems in overcoming Francesca Schiavone in straight sets, the Belarusian top seed winning 6-2 6-3 as she kicked off her campaign after having received a bye directly into the second round.
Australia’s Samantha Stosur awaits Azarenka in the quarter-finals.
It was a day to forget for defending champion Dominika Cibulkova though as the Slovak dropped to a 4-6 6-3 6-2 defeat to Ana Ivanovic in the last remaining first round match.
Cibulkova came into the tournament in California having just picked up her third WTA title – in Stanford – and she looked set to continue that rich vein of form when she took the opening set – her ninth straight set won in Carlsbad.
But that is where the wheels came off as Ivanovic launched an onslaught that she had no answer to.
At 3-3 in the second set, the Serb won the next eight games to end Cibulkova’s defence early and set up a second-round encounter with Coco Vandeweghe.
Southern California Open results
Round 2
1-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-2 6-3
3-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Laura Robson (Britain) 6-1 6-2
4-Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands (U.S.) 6-4 6-2
5-Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Sesil Karatantcheva (Kazakhstan) 6-4 6-1
Round 1
7-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 4-6 6-3 6-2
