Ostapenko and Venus make early exits at Madrid Open

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko suffered a blow to her Roland Garros preparations with a first-round loss to Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu at the Madrid Open.

Latvia’s Ostapenko, seeded fifth, had been showing signs of improving form after a slow start to 2018 but she was no match for Begu, the world No. 36.

Begu dominated the Ostapenko serve on her way to a 6-3 6-3 victory and a second-round match against compatriot Mihaela Buzarnescu or Maria Sharapova.

Another seed falls! ????@irina_begu upsets Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-3 at @MutuaMadridOpen to reach second round. pic.twitter.com/NJiSGATsQ1

— WTA (@WTA) May 5, 2018

Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, the world No.29, upset eighth seed and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams 3-6 6-3 6-2.

Kontaveit hit 42 winners and 42 unforced errors in an aggressive display.

“I got out of some tough situations and the match turned around,” she told WTA Insider.

“I found my energy again because I felt like I’d lost it at the start of the third set. Once I found it again, I was trying to keep that positive energy up, and that helped me in the end.”

Fourth seed Elina Svitolina was the highest-ranked player in action on Saturday and she cruised past Alize Cornet 6-2 6-2.

Sixth seed and recent Stuttgart champion Karolina Pliskova made it six wins a row with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Elena Vesnina, while seventh seed Caroline Garcia saw off Dominika Cibulkova 6-1 7-5.

“Sometimes, after you win a tournament you feel like everything is going to be easy,” said Pliskova.

“I wasn’t fighting like I was in Stuttgart. That’s what I want to improve because my next match will be very tough.”

Pliskova will play Victoria Azarenka or Aleksandra Krunic in round two.

France’s Kristina Mladenovic had an impressive 7-5 6-0 win over 12th seed and Stuttgart finalist CoCo Vandeweghe.