Maria Sharapova’s return to the Kremlin Cup ended with a first-round defeat to Magdalena Rybarikova.
Sharapova, who flew to Moscow after her victory at last week’s tournament in Tianjin, fell to the eighth seed 7-6(3) 6-4 on Tuesday.
It was a similar story for Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova; the Russian was a victor over the weekend in Hong Kong, but after the long-haul flight to Moscow fell at the first hurdle to Daria Kasatkina in straight sets.
In the last 16, Kasatkina meets Katerina Siniakova while Rybarikova takes on Alize Cornet.
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In an atmospheric match at the indoor event, Rybarikova had to battle both Sharapova and a large, passionate centre court crowd before prevailing.
Sharapova: I played 3 consecutive tournaments, but to be honest I'd like to play more, I'm not ready to finish this season (smiles) pic.twitter.com/C2eczB3e1J
— Ilya Ryvlin (@ryvlin) October 17, 2017
“It was very difficult for me, because it felt like Fed Cup. It’s absolutely normal, Maria is a huge superstar here and she’s a real champion,” Rybarikova said on-court after the match.
“I’m happy that I went through this match, and it’s good for my confidence. I’m very happy with that.”
Sharapova’s first appearance at the Moscow tournament since 2007 attracted plenty of interest, with the American-based Russian swamped by fans at a promotional appearance.
Others prevailing in first-round matches in Moscow on Tuesday were No.6 seed Daria Gavrilova and seventh seed Julia Goerges.
In a rematch of the Rio 2016 Olympic gold medal match, Monica Puig again overcame Angelique Kerber, beating the former world No.1 and top seed in straight sets on Tuesday.
Puig’s 6-3 6-4 win over the German sets up a second-round meeting with Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium.
The victory took Puig’s record in 2017 to a middling 22-22; the Puerto Rican has struggled to truly fire since reaching the pinnacle of Olympic achievement.
Kerber, who clung onto her 2016-earned #1 ranking through mid-July, now waits to see if she'll eke into one of the last spots for Zhuhai.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) October 17, 2017
She’ll attempt to reach her first WTA quarterfinal since Acapulco in February when she faces Van Uytvanck on Wednesday.
In other results in Luxembourg, German wildcards Andrea Petkovic and Sabine Lisicki scored first-round wins while No.2 seed Kiki Bertens beat Czech Denisa Allertova 6-4 7-5.
Eugenie Bouchard suffered her 14th first-round defeat of 2017 when she lost 2-6 6-2 6-3 to Johanna Larsson.
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