Defending champ Muguruza knocked out of Cincinnati

Garbine Muguruza blew a 4-1 lead in the final set to fall in her opening match at the WTA event in Cincinnati.

The defending champion and seventh seed fell 2-6 6-4 6-4 to Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko in her first match since Wimbledon.

Another former champion shown the door on Wednesday was No.9 seed Karolina Pliskova, who went down 2-6 6-3 7-5 to Aryna Sabalenka. Pliskova won the Cincinnati title in 2016.

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Third seed Sloane Stephens avoided the upset bug with a 6-3 6-2 win over Tatiana Maria, while 15th seed Elise Mertens and No.16 seed Ashleigh Barty also progressed.

Later on Wednesday, No.4 seed Angelique Kerber came out on top of an epic battle with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, while second seed Caroline Wozniacki was forced to retire with a left knee injury after dropping the first set to Kiki Bertens.

Muguruza, who was forced to withdraw from San Jose and Montreal with an arm injury, is expected to drop outside the top 10 following the loss to the world No.44.

“I think it was a very ugly match, but I’m happy that I fought,” Muguruza told wtatennis.com.

Wild Wednesday!@LTsurenko eliminates defending champion Muguruza 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 at @CincyTennis to reach the third round. pic.twitter.com/s7YaKiZ6j8

— WTA (@WTA) August 15, 2018

“The level wasn’t very high, but at the end she managed to come back in the third set and play better and found a way to keep winning and win the match.

“I felt good. I’m happy that I didn’t feel pain. Obviously I didn’t have a lot of practices to try to recover, so I had to manage a little bit. I’m happy that I didn’t felt pain. I competed. It didn’t go my way.

“I’m going to take that positive and keep training for US Open.”

Tsurenko had beaten Muguruza once before, in Toronto in 2015. But she’d lost her last 11 matches against top-10 players, making this victory especially sweet.

She will next face unseeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova for a place in the quarterfinals.

Pliskova, meanwhile, missed two match points when receiving a 4-5 15-40. Sabalenka, a powerful Belarusian who has improved to world No.34 in a breakout year on tour, went on to complete the upset in a touch under two hours.

“I think I played a good level of tennis, and I’m so happy that I’m playing like this this week,” Sabalenka said.

Next up for the 20-year-old is sixth seed Caroline Garcia.

Kerber grinds out victory

In a memorable battle on Grandstand court, reigning Wimbledon champion Kerber won her first match since her victory at the All England Club with a 4-6 7-5 6-4 win over Pavlyuchenkova.

Kerber needed two hours and 41 minutes to subdue the Russian, the first time she’d ever beaten Pavlyuchenkova in a third set.

The win tied their head-to-head series at 6-6 and set up a third-round meeting with 13th seed Madison Keys, who swatted aside Camila Giorgi 6-2 6-2.

“She’s always a tough opponent and I was trying to stay focused in the match, especially after the first set,” Kerber said on court after the match. “I was just trying to fight – I mean the energy here is so amazing so I just tried to take it from you guys and it’s just great to be in the next round.”

.@AngeliqueKerber survives the rain delay and Pavlyuchenkova, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4!

Captures first win since Wimbledon title at @CincyTennis! pic.twitter.com/jtemg8XWv4

— WTA (@WTA) August 16, 2018

Kerber has won seven of her eight career meetings with Keys, including their most recent – a crushing 6-1 6-2 victory in the Australian Open 2018 quarterfinals.