Victoria Azarenka was expected to be one of the major challengers for the Wimbledon crown this year.
The Belarusian second seed was due to face Italy's Flavia Pennetta on Centre Court today but withdrew moments before taking to the court because of a knee injury sustained in Monday's first-round encounter against Maria Joao Koehler.
The 23-year-old will now have to wait another year to fight for the SW19 title.
Afternoon folks. Day three of The Championships is already upon us and first up on Centre Court today we have the ladies' second seed, Victoria Azarenka.
Azarenka has been world number one before and has two Grand Slam titles to her name - both Australian Opens, which she has won the last two years in a row.
Her best effort at SW19 is reaching the semi-finals, which she has done on the last two occasions. Both times she lost to the eventual champion - Petra Kvitova in 2011 and Serena Williams in 2012.
Despite being seeded second, 'Vika' is third-favourite for the tournament with the bookies behind Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, seeded first and third respectively. Serena, at 31, is arguably in the form of her life and heavy favourite for the title.
WHO? So who is the Belarusian up against today? Flavia Pennetta is a 31-year-old Italian currently ranked 158 in the world. Her highest ever ranking was 10 in 2009 and her best ever finish at Wimbledon was reaching the fourth round in 2005 and 2006.
Those of you with a keen British interest might recognise Pennetta's name though as she did see off Elena Baltacha in one of the first matches to finish at this year's tournament on Monday.
The winner of today's match looks set to play 29th seed Alize Cornet. The Frenchwoman is about to beat Su-Wei Hsieh over on Court 18 at a set and a double break up.
So Pennetta beat Baltacha, but how did Azarenka make it to round two. She just about made it past Maria Joao Koehler in three sets on No. 1 Court.
There's far more to that match than just a three-set victory, though. Azarenka looked like she might have to pull out after slipping nastily and wailing in pain on court. She struggled through but hopefully will be OK today.
This is what Azarenka tweeted yesterday: "Thank you everybody for messages and support. Got some positive news. Taking care, will see day by day. Thank you #TeamVika."
BREAKING NEWS! Azarenka withdraws!
This is what @Wimbledon just tweeted: "Announcement on Centre Court: Victoria #Azarenka has withdrawn from #Wimbledon due to injury. Schedule will change. More to follow... #Vika"
It sounded positive from what Azarenka tweeted yesterday but she obviously hasn't been able to recover from that knee injury suffered during Monday's first-round match. A big shame and yet another seed bites the dust at this year's Wimbledon Championships.
I will stick around here until the new schedule is announced, should be revealed soon hopefully.
UPDATE! Eugenie Bouchard vs. Ana Ivanovic will now be the first match on Centre today.
We will still have Tsonga and then Federer after the Bouchard-Ivanovic on Centre, no change there.
Anyway that's this commentary just about done then. A new one for Bouchard-Ivanovic will appear shortly, see you there.
Written by
Pascal Lemesre
Pascal Lemesre
