Jelena Ostapenko has been dumped out of the Stuttgart Open, losing to Linda Noskova 6-3 6-1 in the first round.
Ostapenko entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed, but the Latvian was far from her best against her 19-year-old opponent, losing the match in one hour and seven minutes.
Noskova, who has now registered her third top-10 win in 2024, will play either Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu or Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the last-16.
“I was just trying to focus on the match, it was my first match on clay this year so I was just trying to be as careful and focussed as possible,” the world No. 31 said after her win.
“I was trying to get it under control at all times and not allow any chaos to come in.”
Noskova got off to a fast start in the match, reeling off the first four games of the set. Ostapenko broke back when Noskova held a 5-3 lead, but Noskova broke Ostapenko to love in the very next game to take the set.
Noskova played with even greater confidence in the second set, winning 82 per cent of her points on her first serve, and she won the first five games in a row.
Ostapenko won one game on her own serve to avoid being bagelled, before Niskova served out the match.
Elise Mertens beat Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-1 4-6 6-0 earlier in the day to set up a last-16 encounter with world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
World No. 7 Qinwen Zheng took just one hour and 16 minutes to beat Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-3 and book her place in the next round.
World No. 8 Marketa Vondrousova had little trouble dispatching Donna Vekic, beating the Croat 6-4 6-3.
In the day’s opening match, Jasmine Paolini breezed past her compatriot Sara Errani, who entered the tournament as a qualifier, 6-1 6-0 in 47 minutes.