Wuhan, China - Venus Williams was a first-round loser Sunday in the inaugural Wuhan Tennis Open, while Victoria Azarenka withdrew from the event because of a foot injury that will also end her season. Azarenka, a wild card entry into this weeks tournament, made the announcement Sunday on her Facebook page, citing a foot injury. Unfortunately I will not be competing in any tournaments for the remainder of the season, she wrote. It has been a very tough year for me. I have been trying my best to improve day in and day out by pushing and pushing ... but that does not appear to be the best approach for me right now. I will use this time to work on making a full recovery and take care of my body to compete at my best next season. Azarenka did not win a tournament this year, reaching only one final -- a loss to Serena Williams in the season-opener at Brisbane. The two-time Australian Open champ missed seven of her first 16 scheduled events because of various injuries and will be replaced in this weeks draw by lucky loser Annika Beck of Germany. The eight top seeds in Wuhan, including world No. 1 Serena Williams, have first-round byes and Sundays action featured Caroline Garcias upset of Venus Williams. Garcia and Venus battled for more than 2 1/2 hours before the Frenchwoman finally emerged with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6) triumph. Shell next face fifth- seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Heat was a factor on Sunday in central China, as 16-year-old wild card Xu Shilin was forced to retire in the third set against American Alison Riske after nearly three hours on the court. The match was even after both players captured 6-4 wins in the first two sets and were tied at 6-6 in the third when Shilin was forced to call it quits because of the heat. Seeded winners Sunday included Russias Ekaterina Makarova and Germanys Andrea Petkovic. The 13th-seeded Makarova rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Serbias Bojana Jovanovski, while the 16th-seeded Petkovic rallied for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic. A pair of former Grand Slam champions were also in action and came away with different results. Russias Svetlana Kuznetsova thumped Japans Kurumi Nara, 6-3, 6-2, while Italys Francesca Schiavone, who first had to make it through qualifying, lost to Belgian wild card Kirsten Flipkens in three sets. Other winners Sunday were Czech veteran Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine and qualifiers Karin Knapp of Italy and Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan. Knapp won the Tashkent Open last Sunday, but was a first-round loser this week in Guangzhou. With Azarenkas withdrawal, 19 of the top 20 players are entered this week. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province and the most populous city in central China. 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The Buffalo Sabres, who were knocked down to the second overall pick after finishing with the worst regular season record, are expected to take the other generational player in Jack Eichel.And then there was one. After five rounds of matches in the Premier League, 19 clubs have lost at least once. Only Everton remain unbeaten. Yet, typically for a team that plays all of their games in the shadows of their mighty neighbours across Stanley Park, it is quite fitting that they are far from the leagues major storyline coming off another action-packed weekend. Want to read or talk about another Jose Mourinho press conference? You cant miss it. Reflections on the thumping Manchester United took in the derby? On the lips of everyone on Monday morning in England. Paolo Di Canios sacking? On all the back pages of Mondays newspapers. Everton? As usual, only on the minds of the blue side of Merseyside. Saturdays 3-2 win at West Ham is certainly a performance that will stick in the memories of many Evertonians for some time. It was, of course, highlighted by two fantastic pieces of individual skill from Leighton Baines, scorer of two direct free kicks from the same spot, passed a bamboozled Jussi Jaaskelainen, but the performance away from the result showed many encouraging signs of development. One of the early themes from this seasons Premier League has been new managers bringing new ideas to their new teams and this is certainly the case with Roberto Martinez at Everton. Although David Moyes did a great job during his time on Merseyside there was some frustration growing, certainly among regular visitors to Goodison Park, about his style of play last season. The hiring of Martinez certainly didnt come on the back of needing to please those fans, but it certainly wont hurt. The Spaniard wants Everton to pass more and improve their overall technical quality, while not compromising some of their old traits and at Upton Park on Saturday all of that shone through. Character Five games in and it is already very clear that Evertons ability to outwork teams has remained. During last weekends victory against Chelsea they had to spend long stretches of the match without the ball and that is what Martinez recognized, saying: "Technically we can improve but we showed attributes of a winning team, desire, work ethic, keeping to our responsibilities." Moyes worked very hard to instill that into Everton and with many of his core players still there it is clear none of these strengths have disappeared. They relied on them against Chelsea and during some difficult spells against West Ham on Saturday. Distribution from the back West Ham are not a side who are comfortable in pressing too high up the field. They like to maintain their shape, let opponents play it out and then use their midfield to press to close down and block outlets. This style suits Everton and it allowed Tim Howard time to play the ball out to his centre backs in their own third, much more than the corresponding game last season: (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) In Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin, Everton have two centre-backs that are strong in the air, have decent pace and, importantly, can feel comfortable receiving the ball while positioning far apart to cover wide areas when their full backs go forward (as the graph below shows). (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) In last seasons match at Upton Park, between the two sides, Jagielka played right back with John Heitinga playing centre back. On Saturday, Evertons two centre backs attempted more than 50 passes (59 to 113) than a year ago and completed enough passes to make a difference to their overall style (97 to 51). (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) Masters of Midfield "He is very clever with his positioning, he is quite unique with his role in the British market, you always get the role played really well by foreign players, but he is unique in the way he plays. He will be a perfect influence for the likes of Ross Barkley, James McCarthy. It was an impressive master class of the position." Martinez certainly didnt hold back in his praise of Gareth Barry following his debut for Everton last week against Chelsea. Barry clearly has his limitations but what he gives Martinez is tactical discipline. No other player available to him can do what Barry does (Darron Gibson needs to improve his passing and discipline). The Englishmman is better deeper where he can read the game, without needing any pace, and cause vital turnovers.dddddddddddd He is also comfortable coming deep in between the centre backs to begin attacks, giving his fellow central midfielders, Leon Osman and Ross Barkley in this case, opportunities to join the attack and create triangles in wide areas with the full backs and wingers. (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) Barry has often shown good vision against teams that play down to his tempo, such as West Ham. On Saturday, Barkley benefited from Barrys calmness on the ball, as the two linked up more than any other players on the pitch. (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) At half-time, with his team down 1-0 and struggling to keep the ball to his liking, Martinez made two changes inserting Romelu Lukaku in a straight swap for Nikica Jelavic up top and James McCarthy in midfield for Steven Naismith, who had played out wide. This gave us our first glimpse of the midfield trident of Barry-Osman-McCarthy but it lasted just five minutes before Osman limped off injured. For those five minutes all three worked well, treasuring the ball and feeding the lively, energetic duo of Mirallas and Barkley who played as wide forwards just deeper than Lukaku in a 4-3-2-1 shape. Osman was replaced by Bryan Oviedo, a left sided winger, and the impressive Barkley was moved centrally again, playing just ahead of McCarthy and Barry. It proved to be a pivotal move. The Premier League was already into its second season the day Ross Barkley was born. On Sunday Dec. 5 1993, Everton sat in 11th place following a 1-0 win over Southampton the day before their newest fan came into the world less than five miles from Goodison Park. Less than 20 years on, Barkley turned a Premier League game on its head on Saturday. Baines got the headlines for two brilliant free kicks but both were won by Barkleys penetration, intelligence and skill, getting in between the lines and forcing James Collins, and then Mark Noble, to retreat behind him and chop him down while dribbling towards goal. (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) Many young English players have been touted to be stars of the future but many come up full of energy, pace and skill but with little understanding of the game. Barkley is different. He is a rare young English player who desires space and can keep the ball in small confines while waiting to find an outlet. It was little wonder English manager Roy Hodgson was in the stands at this game. Barkley is still very young and raw but he is the closest thing to Steven Gerrard that English football has produced in a decade. Barkley, who spent time with Gerrard while on England duty earlier this month, received some great advice from the Liverpool skipper: "He [Gerrard] told me Im from Liverpool, a local lad playing for the team I support, and there is nothing better. Hes done that throughout his career. He said playing is the main thing, going to another team and not playing would be no good for my development." If Barkley stays fit and in Evertons team he will be with England in Brazil next summer. On the opening day of the season at Norwich he scored Evertons first goal of the season, playing as most attacking member of a midfield three. Marouane Fellaini played deeper that day almost like Martinez was preparing for his exit. Barkley stepped into the big Belgians position from last season with ease and instantly became the face of Martinezs evolution. He no longer needed a big target man to win long balls and play off a central striker, instead choosing a better technical player who will benefit playing alongside a pair of midfielders he used with the money received from the Fellaini sale to Manchester United. Martinez found his own big Belgian on deadline day when Lukaku joined on loan. The style the manager is preaching is easy on the eyes for football fans but in order for it to be successful he needs a goal-scorer. Patience with Jelavic seems to be running out and now he has a replacement who offers much more of a threat to opponents it is clear the jigsaw pieces are coming together for the Spaniard. The Ever-lution is on. Just dont expect to hear about it from too many people. ' ' '