Maria Sharapova beats Russia's Ekaterina Makarova to reach quarter-finals
Thursday 27 April 2017 21:29, UK
Johanna Konta suffered a surprise defeat as she was knocked out of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart by Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.
The British No 1 is inexperienced on clay at the highest level and it showed in a scrappy 6-3 7-5 second-round loss to Sevastova, who also won their meeting at the US Open last year.
Wednesday's first-round victory over Naomi Osaka in Stuttgart was just Konta's third WTA Tour win on clay.
She began well with a break of Sevastova's serve in the first game but lost the next three games and did not hold her own serve until the fourth attempt.
Sevastova, ranked 19 places below Konta at 26, produced three aces in a row on her way to clinching the opening set and then recovered from 3-1 down in the second to level.
A missed forehand opportunity then cost Konta as she was broken in the 11th game and Sevastova served out the victory with her sixth ace.
Maria Sharapova eased past fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals and continue her winning comeback from a 15-month doping ban.
The former world No 1, who has won five Grand Slams and is among the highest-paid athletes in the world, returned to action on Wednesday with a straight-sets win over Roberta Vinci following her suspension for the use of banned substance meldonium.
Sharapova, who had tested positive at the 2016 Australian Open, picked up where she had left off against Vinci, to power through and set up a clash against Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit.
Top seed Angelique Kerber of Germany suffered a second round exit, beaten 6-2 7-5 by Kristina Mladenovic of France.
But second seed Karolina Pliskova is through to round three after a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 victory over Coco Vandeweghe.
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