Maria Sharapova through to Stuttgart last eight after return from doping ban

27 April 2017 11:09

Maria Sharapova continued her controversial return to competitive tennis with a 7-5 6-1 victory over fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova to move into the quarter-finals of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where top seed Angelique Kerber suffered a shock defeat.

Former world number one Sharapova was a wildcard entry for the tournament she has won three times and her first-round win over Roberta Vinci had come just 24 hours after the end of her 15-month suspension for failing a drugs test.

Sharapova, who tested positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open and saw her original two-year ban reduced on appeal, stepped up her power game to eventually breakdown Makarova's resistance towards the end of the first set before then coasting to victory in an hour and 19 minutes.

''Being the second match and playing yesterday and getting all the emotions out, I feel I settled down a little bit today and I was able to focus on my game. I executed a great plan," said Sharapova, who will next meet Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.

"It was definitely great to come out and play matches and being in the quarter-finals here again is quite special.''

Elsewhere on Thursday, world number two and defending champion Kerber was beaten 6-2 7-5 by Kristina Mladenovic of France.

The unexpected result means the German cannot now overtake Serena Williams at the top of the WTA rankings for the next two weeks.

Second-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova, though, did progress after a 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 win over American Coco Vandeweghe, but there was defeat for British number one Johanna Konta as the sixth seed lost 6-3 7-5 against Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.

German Laura Siegemund knocked out Russia's number eight seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-3 to set up a quarter-final against Pliskova, the world number three, while Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro beat Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-2 6-4.

In Turkey at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, there was also a shock when number two seed Timea Babos of Hungary lost 6-4 7-6 (7/5) to home player Cagla Buyukakcay.

Sixth seed Elise Mertens awaits in the last eight after the Belgian defeated Italian Sara Errani 7-6 (7/3) 3-6 6-3.

Top seed Elina Svitolina, the world number 13 from Ukraine, is through after she won 6-3 6-3 against Romanian Alexandra Cadantu.

There were also victories for Jana Cepelova of Slovakia and Turkey's Basak Eraydin as they both progressed to the last eight.

Source: PA