Three-time Miami Open winner Victoria Azarenka battled for nearly three hours to get past a determined Yulia Putintseva and take her place in the semi-finals

Nadal, who was also below-par at the season-ending ATP Finals in November, crashed to Britain's 14th-ranked Cameron Norrie 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the mixed-teams tournament in Sydney

World No.1 Serena Williams, 34, is bidding to become the oldest ever female to win the French Open. She will take on unseeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens in the semi-finals

Putintseva had come through two rounds of qualifying and she seemed to handle the warm conditions better early on in an extremely tight first set.