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Sharapova's return upset at Wuhan Open

Xinhua, September 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Maria Sharapova's return suffered setback here on Monday as the No. 2 seed lost her first match since the Wimbledon Open at the Wuhan Open second round.

It's the first match for the Russian, who had a bye in the first round, in nearly three months as she has been recovering from her leg injury inflicted at the Wimbledon Open, but she had to withdrew for left forearm injury this time halfway as she was leading 7-6 (1), 6-7 (4), 2-1 against

Barbora Strycova from the Czech Republic.

Another seeded player that sustained early exit is Italy's Sara Errania, seeded 16th, who was eliminated by French player Carolina Garcia by 7-6 (4), 4-6, 2-6 in the first round.

No. 8 seed Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 7-6 (4), 5-7, 7-6 (5) to be the first to advance into third round.

No. 9 seed Ana Ivanovic made short work of Alexandra Dulgheru in her opening match.

Last week, Ivanovic saw the defense of her Tokyo title come to an end at the hands of Dominika Cibulkova. However, the Serb picked herself up to register a tidy 6-1, 6-3 win over Dulgheru.

"At the beginning of the first set in the first game I was a little nervous, but luckily I wasn't behind for long," Ivanovic said. "As the match went on I really tried to step it up a little more and I managed to get the break.

"I'm really happy to get the win and be in the second round here."

12 months ago, Ivanovic retired from her opening match in Wuhan with a thigh injury and she made an inauspicious start against Dulgheru, following a wild forehand with a double fault to drop serve in the opening game.

Her response to this setback was emphatic, pinning Dulgheru behind the baselines as she rattled off 13 of the next 15 points. The set soon followed before Ivanovic took complete control with a break midway through the second.

The Romanian battled gamely until the very end, breaking the former French Open champion as she attempted to serve out the match. However, it was only delaying the inevitable, Ivanovic swatting away one final overhead to close out the contest at the second time of asking.

In the second round, she will face Madison Brengle, a player that achieved something Ivanovic failed to do in either Tokyo or New York, who saw off Cibulkova 6-3, 6-4, while also advancing in their section of the draw was Sloane Stephens, a 7-6 (4), 6-3 winner over Alison Riske.

Other seeded players to progress to second round are 15th seeded US Open finalist Roberta Vinci of Italy, who beat Montenegro's qualifier Danka Kovinic 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, and 11th seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and also 14th seeded Madison Keys of America.

Bencic held off Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 7-5, 7-5, while Keys outlasted Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4). Endi