LONDON: Maria Sharapova crashed out in the opening round of the Stuttgart Open as French sixth seed Caroline Garcia staged a fightback to win 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.
“This was not the result that I wanted, but I can take a lot out of this match,” Sharapova said. “I’ve not competed for a few weeks, but I played pretty solid and did all of the right things.
“I served well in the first set but had a few doubles at the wrong time. Physically, I felt quite strong.”
The five-time Grand Slam champion, who turned 31 last week, looked to be in control as she made just two unforced errors in winning the opening set.
But Garcia, who had never beaten the Russian in four previous meetings rallied in the second set as she came from 4-2 down and and levelled the contest in a tie-break.
The 41st-ranked Sharapova returned to tennis in Stuttgart exactly a year ago after finishing a 15-month doping ban for meldonium and reached the semifinals.
She claimed an early break in the third set, but lost it in the third game as Garcia tightened the screw on the crowd favorite.
Sharapova was broken to trail 4-5 and put her opponent under momentary pressure at 0-30 as Garcia tried to serve out the win.
But the world number seven succeeded on her second match point as Sharapova struck a return wide to exit after over two hours of battle on the indoor clay court.
Sharapova said her game might have been compromised by weeks of forearm injury recovery after last playing in Indian Wells six weeks ago.
“Overall I didn’t react as well as I could against a server like her, she got lot of free points,” Sharapova said.
“I didn’t get enough balls back. We were both playing fast, and aggressive.
“I need to be smarter in the winning position.”
Maria Sharapova still upbeat after latest setback on comeback trail
Maria Sharapova still upbeat after latest setback on comeback trail
- Former world No.1 suffers shock defeat to Caroline Garcia.
- Russian has only played 10 matches this year and has only one title since return from doping ban.
Alonso fears more pain in China with struggling Aston Martin
- Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia
SHANGHAI: Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia.
Silverstone-based Aston Martin endured a horror start after serious issues with their Honda power unit and a lack of spare parts.
Two-time world champion Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll had to endure extreme vibration in the chassis caused by the power unit, which was feared could cause the drivers permanent nerve damage.
“The situation unfortunately didn’t change within four or five days since Melbourne, so it will be a difficult weekend,” Alonso told reporters at the Shanghai International Circuit.
“We’ll limit the laps in one or two sessions as we are short on parts. We need laps, to find the window on the chassis side.
“I’ll be happy if we leave China with a more or less normal practice, more or less normal qualifying.”
The Spaniard could not put a timeframe on when improvements might come.
“What can I do within the team? Work harder, help Honda as much as I can,” said Alonso.
“We can allocate resources to help Honda with the power unit. We are one team, it is a bumpy start that I hope won’t last too long.
“We are pushing, we have very talented people in the team, so I hope within a couple of grands prix, we can have a normal weekend.
“To be competitive will take more time. Once we fix the reliability, we will be behind on power and things.”
The 44-year-old veteran has been in Formula One for more than two decades and has driven vastly different iterations of cars from the old V10 petrol engines through to the current complex hybrid configuration.
Despite the issues he said was embracing the challenge of the new cars enthusiastically in what could be his final season on the grid.
His Aston Martin contract expires at the end of 2026.
“Do we enjoy driving these cars? Yes, because we love racing,” Alonso said.
“I do four or five 24-hour races because I love racing and I love driving. So if you jump into an F1 car, you enjoy going fast.
“But it is a challenge, a different challenge.
“I was super lucky to race in (the last) era and I feel lucky to race in both.”
