Johanna Konta made a welcome return to winning ways with a 6-3 7-5 win over Magdalena Rybarikova in the Madrid Open first round.
The British No 1 has suffered a poor start to the year, culminating in a defeat to world No 219 Fanny Stollar in Charleston last month, and by her own admission clay is not her favoured surface so a tough draw against seeded opposition did not bode well.
However Konta, who has slipped to 23rd in the world rankings got the better of the world no 17, needed two hours to complete the job in a keenly contested affair that sees her through to a second round meeting with Bernarda Pera.
Racing out of the traps Konta stormed to a 3-0 lead and held on to claim the first set before slumping to an early break in the second. Rybarikova looked in control before Konta broke to level the set and then seal the win with a decisive break to avoid the need for a tie break.
Meanwhile there were also victories for world No 1 Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki, Garbine Muguruza and Maria Sharapova who picked up a first win since the Australian Open.
The Russian beat Mihaela Buzarnescu in straight sets just a day after the Romanian was beaten by Petra Kvitova in the Prague Open final – Kvitova followed her title success with a straight sets win over Lesia Tsurenko.
2014 champion Sharapova has been struggling with an arm injury, losing her last four matches including a first round defeat in Stuttgart last week, but she was a comprehensive winner on Sunday.
Halep crushed Ekaterina Makarova 6-1 6-0, for a 13th straight victory in the tournament, bouncing back in style from her second-round defeat to Coco Vandeweghe in Stuttgart last week
Wozniacki was in similarly ruthless mood to beat Daria Gavrilova for the loss of just four games while Spanish third seed Muguruza beat Peng Shuai to delight the home crowd.
With the tournament underway on Saturday there were a couple of big-name early casualties as Venus Williams, Jelena Ostapenko and Vandeweghe all bowed out at the first round stage.
After sister Serena opted against playing in Madrid, Venus ensured it was not a long stay either, the 2010 runner-up in Madrid was beaten 3-6 6-3 6-2 by Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit.
French Open champion Ostapenko’s preparations for the defence of her Roland Garros title hit the skids after a comprehensive 6-3 6-3 defeat to unseeded Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.
But if the 20-year-old harbours any hopes of repeating that run in Paris later this month, she will have to make a vast improvement on Saturday’s error-filled performance.
American 12th-seed CoCo Vandeweghe’s defeat by unseeded Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic was the other upset of the day. But world No 4 Elina Svitolina and former world number one Karolina Pliskova were able to book their place in the second round.
