Maria Sharapova beaten in Stuttgart as she plots more Grand Slam titles in the future
France's Caroline Garcia beats Sharapova 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4. Former world No 1 is set to lose her place in the world's top 50 with latest defeat.
Tuesday 24 April 2018 20:09, UK
Maria Sharapova crashed out in the opening round of the Stuttgart Grand Prix to Caroline Garcia but remains determined to add to her five Grand Slam crowns.
The 31-year-old Russian returned to tennis in Stuttgart exactly a year ago after finishing a 15-month doping ban for meldonium and reached the semi-finals. Sharapova has since won one title, the Tianjin Open, after inconsistent performances and injury problems.
The 41st-ranked Sharapova, who turned 31 last week, remained adamant that she will not settle for lower-tier titles, but suffered a first-round exit at the hands of Garcia on Tuesday as she suffered a fourth successive defeat stretching back to the Australian Open in January.
Sharapova made just two unforced errors as she dominated the opening set before Garcia fought back to win 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 in two-and-three-quarter hours.
"When you've experienced Grand Slam victories, it's absolutely natural to have that goal in your mind," Sharapova told CNN. "It would be silly for me to say my goal for this year is to win a lower-tier tournament because I strive to be on the big stage and to win on the big stage.
"I've experienced it, and I know what it's like and I want that feeling again. I continue to work for that."
Sharapova, who won her last Grand Slam title at the 2014 French Open, has no plans to retire just yet and has plans to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"I haven't set a timetable for myself, but I've always said that I would do it on my own terms," she said.
"I'd love to play in another Olympics, but I don't know if that will happen and at this point in 2018, I don't really want to know. I want to keep going and I want to keep working and see where that takes me."
Garcia will next take on Ukrainian qualifier Marta Kostyuk who scored a 6-4 6-1 defeat of Antonia Lottner.
The youngster, who doesn't turn 16 until just before the start of Wimbledon, was joined in round two by Czech fifth seed Karolina Pliskova, who beat Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-2 6-2.
"I felt the best today and for sure it was not her best match but that was not much to do with me," Pliskova said. "The serve was good and I got a lot of free points, my shots were working - there was no problem from my side today."
Coverage of the ATP Barcelona Open will be shown on Sky Sports Arena throughout this week as Rafael Nadal looks to land an 11th title in Catalonia.
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