Former champion Maria Sharapova had a terrible display in his first match with Jimmy Connors as coach, making 62 unforced errors. Young American Sloane Stephens defeated the world number three 2-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
This was the first competitive match for Sharapova in seven weeks, after a shock early Wimbledon defeat. Coach Jimmy Connors tweeted: "Every good round starts with a bogey - not the start we wanted, so back to work tomorrow." Sharapova decided to fire coach Thomas Hogstedt after losing to world number 131 Michelle Larcher de Brito in the second round at Wimbledon. After that defeat the Russian player had to deal with a hip injury.
Sharapova said after the shock defeat: "I started the match off pretty well, but when you put yourself in a really good position you can't let it go. That's what I did tonight. I didn't continue what I was doing well for the first set and a half, and that hurt me. I stopped being patient, I started making a lot more errors, especially off the first ball. Just errors that I shouldn't make."
You can bet on the tournament winner in Cincinnati at Bet365, here are the outright odds for the top five favourites:
Serena Williams - 4/6
Victoria Azarenka - 7/2
Petra Kvitova - 14/1
Agnieszka Radwanska - 14/1
Na Li - 14/1
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