Thursday 19 October 2017 10:50, UK
Maria Sharapova suffered a first-round exit at the Kremlin Cup to Magdalena Rybarikova in her first match in Russia since returning from a doping ban earlier this year.
The former world No 1 arrived in Moscow on the back of winning the Tianjin Open last week for her first title in two years but looked far from her best as she fell to a 7-6(3) 6-4 defeat to her Slovakian opponent.
Rybarikova, who reached the final in Linz last week, won the final five points of a tense set which required a tiebreak before securing the decisive break of serve in the 10th game of the second set to move to the second round in one hour and 55 minutes.
Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, was appearing at her home tournament for the first time since 2007 but could not build upon winning her 36th title in China.
The 30-year-old, who has moved to world No 57 since her return to the sport, benefited from the support of a partisan home crowd but preferred to praise her opponent rather than blame fatigue on her defeat.
"I fought, I really tried to win this match but my opponent played well," Sharapova said after the match. "I felt fine physically given that I have just played five matches at the Tianjin Open."
Meanwhile, there was positive news for two British players as Heather Watson and Naomi Broady secured first round victories at the Luxembourg Open.
Watson, the British No 2, defeated Yanina Wickmayer 6-2 6-1 to register her first tour level win since Wimbledon after she struggled for form and confidence on the American hard courts and in Asia but needed just 64 minutes to beat the Belgian.
Watson took her opportunities in impressive fashion, converting all four break points, and won more than half the points on her opponent's serve to book a second round meeting with Estonian third seed Anett Kontaveit.
Broady overcame German sixth seed Tatjana Maria 6-2 6-2 to make the most of a lucky loser spot after initially falling in the final round of qualifying to France's Pauline Parmentier.
Broady lost a mere five points on serve during the match and dominated Maria's second serve to claim her first top-100 scalp since June.
We will have all the action from the Erste Bank Open and Swiss Indoors Basel before the Paris Masters.
The Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and season-ending extravaganza World Tour Finals at London's O2 in November end another memorable year which will be covered via our website www.skysports.com/tennis with live blogs and updates as the season reaches its climax.
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