Agence France-Presse
Madrid, May 2: Top seeds Agnieszka Radwanska and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber crashed out of the Madrid Open in the first round in major setbacks ahead of Roland Garros.
Poland’s Radwanska, the No. 1 seed in the absence of Serena Williams, lost 4-6, 7-6 (3/7), 3-6 to the rejuvenated Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. Cibulkova, a former World No. 10 and Australian Open runner-up, was always going to be a dangerous floater having won her fifth career title last time out in Katowice three weeks ago. And she held her nerve at crucial junctures to dump the Pole, Sunday.
Second-seeded German Kerber was dumped out by the Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova 4-6, 2-6 with her defeat coming just a week after she had retained her title in Stuttgart. The last time the two had met Kerber had outplayed her opponent losing two games in the process.
“I had won four games in the matches we played before,” said Strycova after the match. “I went into this match thinking I had nothing to lose. I mean, it can’t be worse than Miami. So I belted the ball from the start.”
Losses for Radwanska and Kerber meant Garbine Muguruza remained the highest seed left at the key clay-court event and the fourth-ranked Spaniard sealed her place in round two with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Anna Schmiedlova.
Former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka stretched her winning streak to 15 matches after winning in Indian Wells and Miami as she overcame some stiff first set resistance from Britain’s Laura Robson to win 6-4, 6-2.
Azarenka could meet defending champion and fifth seed Petra Kvitova in the quarterfinals as the Czech had no trouble in disposing of Lara Arrubarrena 6-3, 6-2.