Azarenka dumped out in French Open fourth round

By Julien Pretot

PARIS (Reuters) - Victoria Azarenka suffered a shock early exit at the French Open when she slumped to a 6-2 7-6 fourth-round defeat by Slovakian 15th seed Dominika Cibulkova that put her world number one status at risk on Sunday.

Belarussian Azarenka, who lost the tiebreak 7-4, will lose her world number one spot to Maria Sharapova if the Russian second seed reaches the final.

Cibulkova, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2009, threw her racket and fell on her back after ending Azarenka's run with a backhand crosscourt passing shot after one hour and 47 minutes.

She will next meet either American teenager Sloane Stephens or Australian sixth seed Samantha Stosur.

Azarenka started by winning a 15-minute opening game featuring six break points on the Slovakian's serve but she could not sustain the pace, dropping her serve three times.

She tried hard to find angles but the ball would too often land long or wide on the important points.

Cibulkova put her opponent on the back foot with lengthy rallies from the baseline, taking a well deserved one-set lead after 44 minutes.

The second set was a topsy-turvy affair on a chilly afternoon on Court Suzanne Lenglen.