Eastbourne, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Former world No. 1 star Victoria Azarenka returned a loser Tuesday at the final grass-court Wimbledon tune-up event in Eastbourne.
Rising Italian Camila Giorgi toppled the fourth-seeded Belarusian star in 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 fashion on Day 2 at the Aegon International.
The 2010 Eastbourne runner-up Azarenka played her first match in three months after being sidelined with a foot injury and appeared completely healthy, if not a bit rusty at Devonshire Park.
Azarenka has slipped to No. 8 in the world rankings, her lowest spot since the spring of 2011.
Another upset of a former No. 1 came when promising American Madison Keys took down third-seeded Serbian star Jelena Jankovic, 6-3, 6-3.
Meanwhile, second-seeded former Wimbledon champ and 2011 Eastbourne runner- up Petra Kvitova avoided the upset bug by outlasting fellow Czech Lucie Safarova, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4).
In other action involving seeded women, No. 6 Italian Flavia Pennetta floored Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh 6-3, 6-3 and surprising American Lauren Davis doused No. 7 Italian star Sara Errani 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
Also on Day 2, Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, the 2004 Eastbourne runner-up, beat Italian Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-1; Aussie wild card Johanna Konta drilled Swiss Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-2; American Varvara Lepchenko overcame Chinese Zhang Shuai 5-7, 6-4, 6-1; and Russian Ekaterina Makarova, the 2010 Eastbourne champion, dismissed former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-3; and British wild card Heather Watson snuck past Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Americans were a perfect 3-0 on Tuesday.
In some second-round action on Wednesday, Kvitova will battle Lepchenko and eighth-seeded former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki will take on American Sloane Stephens.
