Stosur loses in first round at Brisbane; Murray nears return (Dec 31, 2017)
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) Australian Samantha Stosur's year ended on a sour note after she was bundled out of her home state tournament by Brisbane International seventh seed Anastasija Sevastova on Sunday.
The former US Open champion and French open finalist had opportunities against her 27-year-old Latvian opponent in the first set, but was completely outplayed by Sevastova in the second set to be eliminated 6-1 6-3 in the first round.
It wasn't a good day for French world No.8 Caroline Garcia either, after she retired in her first round match against compatriot Alize Cornet.
The fourth seed started brightly to take the first set 6-3, but Cornet rallied to claim the second and force a deciding set.
Garcia then took an injury time-out for treatment on her lower back and played just one point in the final set before retiring.
Cornet will next play Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the second round after the Croatian beat Germany's Tatjana Maria 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
Serbian Aleksandra Krunic beat Carinna Witthhoeft of Germany 7-5, 7-6 (2) to set up a second round clash with Spanish top seed Garbine Murguruza.
In the men's draw Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine beat sixth seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Meanwhile, former world No.1 Andy Murray continued his return from a hip injury with a practice session in Brisbane on Sunday as he prepares for his first competitive match since July. That comeback match will be against either American Ryan Harrison or Leonardo Mayer of Argentina in the second round on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
''I just want to enjoy playing again, I really missed it,'' Murray said on Sunday. ''I want to play tennis... I don't mind if it's 30 in the world level - I'd love it to be number one in the world level - I just want to play.''
''When that's taken away from you, you realize how important it is.''
