Miami Open: Sharapova shocked by Gavrilova in opening round

MiamiWorld number two Maria Sharapova was knocked out in her opening match at the Miami Open hardcourt tennis tournament on Thursday shocked 76 74 63 by 97thranked Daria GavrilovaRussias Gavrilova who received a wild card into the main draw needed one hour and 49 minutes to fashion the biggest upset so far in the combined WTA and ATP Masters tournament which Sharapova has never won despite five trips to the final The defeat marked fivetime Grand Slam champion Sharapovas worst in the event since she lost in the first round on her debut in 2003Maria Sharapova Pic AFPThe loss to an opponent who only broke into the top 100 in the world rankings on Monday puts Sharapova on the back foot with her early hardcourt season now history and a title defence on clay in Stuttgart coming up in a month The secondseeded Russian lost the opening set after nearly an hour and quickly found herself trailing the former junior world number one 41 in the secondSharapova clawed a break back but was then broken to love as Gavrilova set herself up for the win with a 53 lead She calmly closed out the biggest win of her career on her first match point Gavrilova lives and trains in Australia where she is coached with funding from the Australian federation and is pursuing Australian citizenship Sharapova has lived most of her life in the United States but retains her Russian citizenshipThe triumph was Gavrilovas first against a top10 player after four prior chances She had never before beaten anyone ranked higher than 35th Remaining womens seeds fared better with six of the top 16 making it through to the third round Number four Caroline Wozniacki lost just one game in a 60 61 hammering of Madison Brengle while Polish seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Anna Schmiedlova 64 75Eighthseeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova German ninth seed Andrea Petkovic 12thseeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro number 15 Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic and 16thseeded Venus Williams all advanced Williams playing her first match since February 27 defeated Radwanskas younger sister Urszula 63 62 to set up a meeting with Australian Sam StosurIn mens play Canadian Vasek Pospisil spoiled Juan Martin del Potros return from injury with a 64 76 97 firstround win over the former US Open champion Argentinas del Potro a clear fan favorite showed the rust after months of left wrist injury rehab in a contest lasting a shade under two hours The former world number four who has slumped to 616 in the rankings doublefaulted on a set point which would have levelled the contest at a set each Moments later he saved a match point with an ace but finally succumbed with a service return long Tennis without pain Del Potro who had come back from right wrist surgery in 2010 underwent surgery on his left wrist last March He finished the 2014 season outside the top 100 for the first time since 2005 after contesting just four tournaments during the year Del Potro made an aborted comeback attempt in January before pulling out of the Australian Open because of pain in the wrist and underwent a second surgery two months ago Despite the defeat he said he believes hes heading in the right directionI dont feel frustrated I have to take the positive things on my comeback del Potro said It doesnt matter the score for now I just wanted to play tennis and without pain Pospisil 24 and ranked 60th in the world fired 35 winners converting two of his three break opportunities Del Potro who hit 25 unforced errors managed to convert just one of his break point chances