Second seed Karolina Pliskova was dumped out of the second round of the Madrid Open on Monday 6-3, 6-3 by Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova.
After a great start to the season on the hard courts of Australia and the USA, Pliskova’s struggles on clay continued after also bowing out early in Stuttgart and on home soil in Prague last week.
Sevastova was solid on serve throughout and broke three times in a row in a run of seven straight games from 3-2 down in the first set to lead by a set and 3-0.
And the world number 22 only needed the one break in the second and she served out to set up a meeting with Barbora Strycova or Lara Arruabarrena in the third round.
Maria Sharapova’s grudge match with Eugenie Bouchard is the headline act of Monday’s night session as the Russian continues her comeback from a doping ban.
Bouchard called Sharapova “a cheater” last week and suggested she should have been banned for life — rather than 15 months — after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.