Original Blog Entry: Madrid Masters Surprises

NBey6 — Mon, 10 May 2010 00:56:46 GMT

Updated: May 9, 2010, 5:14 PM ET

Henin, Sharapova out in first round

Associated Press

MADRID -- Former top-ranked players Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova crashed out in the first round of the Madrid Masters on Sunday.

Aravane Rezai beat Henin 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, and Lucie Safarova edged Sharapova 6-4, 6-3.

Henin said she had not fully recovered after falling ill following her win at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart last weekend, her first title since coming out of retirement.

Madrid has been a difficult experience this year and I hope that next year will be better, she said.

Sharapova battled back from a poor start to level the first set at 4-4 before Safarova took control by winning the last six games of the match.

It's a struggle trying to find the rhythm, Sharapova said. I thought she played really solid, good tennis and did everything she needed to win the match. More solid than me anyway.

Fourth-seeded Venus Williams beat Swiss qualifier Stefanie Voegele 6-4, 6-2.

On the men's side, ninth-seeded David Ferrer beat Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 7-6 (2). Ivo Karlovic topped Evgeny Korolev 6-4, 7-6 (5) to set up a second-round match with sixth-seeded Fernando Verdasco. Juan Monaco beat Simon Greul 6-1, 6-1.

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