Top Seeds Sharapova and Kvitova Ousted in Stuttgart

April 23, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Maria_Sharapova_Crop_0
Photo credit: Calvin Rhoden

Two of the top three seeds at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany were eliminated on Thursday, as top-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova and third-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova were both bounced from the tournament.

Kvitova was the first of the two to fall as she met American Madison Brengle in the early slate of matches. Brengle beat Kvitova 6-3, 7-6(2), staving off a late rally from the Czech who was playing in her first tournament since mid-February.

“I think that Madison played a solid match,” said Kvitova, who most recently played in the Fed Cup after skipping Indian Wells and Miami due to exhaustion. “She didn’t miss much and it was really difficult for me because when I had the opportunity for winners I missed. The confidence wasn’t really high then and I didn’t feel physically there as well.”

Kvitova’s rust was evident in the numbers as she had 39 winners but also 39 unforced errors.

The win for Brengle is her first over a top 10 opponent. She moves on to the third-round where she will play France’s Caroline Garcia, who followed up her first-round win over Ana Ivanovic  with a 7-6(4), 6-2 victory over Germany’s Carina Witthoeft.

Sharapova was beaten by Germany’s Angelique Kerber, who came back from a set down to upend the top-seed 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Kerber trailed 4-5 in the second set and was one game away from a loss, but won nine of the final 10 games in front of her home fans to stun Sharapova and advance.

Up next for Kerber will be sixth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova, who beat her fellow Russian Marina Melnikova 6-2, 6-3.

Caroline Wozniacki came back from a break down to avoid an upset of her own and beat Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6(5), 6-1.

“It was a tough first round but I’m happy to be through,” said Wozniacki. “I’m pleased with the way I managed to mix up the pace, and I ran a lot of balls down, which was good. Here the clay is a little bit more slippery, so it was all about being the first one to move your opponent, and I did that well.”

The fourth-seeded Dane will play the winner of eighth-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro and Swiss Belinda Bencic.

Sara Errani rounded out Thursday’s winners in Stuttgart. The Italian coasted past Israel’s Zarina Diyas 6-4, 6-1 to set up a matchup with second-seeded Romanian Simona Halep. 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Centercourt
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