Sharapova retires, Murray stunned in Rome Masters
Rome, May 17
Maria Sharapova retired with injury in her second-round match in Rome, just hours after she was denied a wild card for the French Open, while defending champion Andy Murray crashed to a heavy defeat in his opener against Fabio Fognini.
Sharapova, who was wearing a bandage on her left thigh, yesterday pulled out of her contest against Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni while leading 4-6 6-3 2-1 to round out a miserable day for the five-time Grand Slam champion.
Early exit for Murray
World number one Murray’s Rome Masters title defence then ended early as he was comfortably beaten 6-2 6-4 by local favourite Fognini after a first-round bye.
Murray limped to another premature exit with Fognini bossing the Scottish top seed around at will and breaking him four times.
Djokovic moves ahead
Four-time Rome champion Novak Djokovic overcame Britain’s Aljaz Bedene 7-6 (7/2) 6-2 for a place in the third round.
The world number two came through a tight opening set by dominating the tiebreaker before finishing off his victory amid a smattering of jeers from the crowd.
Nadal enters pre-quarters
Rafael Nadal eased into the last-16 when his second-round opponent Nicolas Almagro retired after sustaining a knee injury early in the first set.
Nadal raced into a 3-0 lead before Spanish compatriot Almagro felt his left knee with less than half an hour played. — Agencies
