Johanna Konta suffers first-round defeat to Laura Siegemund at Madrid Open
British No 1 bows out to in-form German, who won Stuttgart honours last weekend
Sunday 7 May 2017 17:11, UK
Johanna Konta's struggles on clay continued as she exited the Madrid Open in the first round after a third-set capitulation against Laura Siegemund.
Konta, the tournament's sixth seed, was 3-0 up in the decider, but the in-form German rattled off five games in a row to steal a 3-6 7-5 6-4 win that finished at 2.17am local time.
The British No 1 has become a real force on the women's tour over the last 18 months but that is yet to translate to the clay as she has won just three games on the surface in her career.
There was a clear chance to make that four against a tough opponent in Siegemund, who won in Stuttgart last week in a strong field that included Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Konta and Maria Sharapova.
It started well as Konta claimed the first set with two breaks and looked on course for a straight-sets win when leading 5-4 in the second.
But Siegemund upped her game when it mattered, breaking Konta either side of two clutch holds to send it into a decider.
It looked like the world No 7 had found a way to win it when she surged into a 3-0 lead but Siegemund again recovered with five successive games, fighting back from 0-40 down in one of them, to claim an impressive win.
World No 2 Angelique Kerber eased into round two with a convincing 6-4 6-2 win over Hungary's Timea Babos.
Maria Sharapova continues her comeback from a 15-month doping ban with a tough three-set victory over Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Her 4-6 6-4 6-0 triumph means she will next meet Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, who branded Sharapova "a cheater" last week and suggested she should have been banned for life after testing positive for meldonium at the 2015 Australian Open.
"I've been in the public eye since I was a very young girl. I've heard a lot of things," said 30-year-old Sharapova.
"If everything affects you on and off the court, I think that would be a really challenging position to be in.
"It's not the way I think. My tennis speaks for itself, and that's what I focus on."
There were also wins for Kristina Mladenovic, Catherine Bellis, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Donna Vekic.
