Francesca Schiavone Falls In Stuttgart

Francesca Schiavone was the big name casualty in Stuttgart yesterday as the fourth seed crashed out to Agnieszka Radwanska.

It was the first outing on the red stuff for the Italian as she prepares to defend her French Open crown in a few weeks time.

Schiavone won just four games in her match at Radwanska romped to a very impressive 6-1 6-3 win to move into the third round.

Speaking to Yahoo Sport after the match Radwanska said: I am very happy about my performance. Against Francesca you have to mix it up. She is like a wall. I played her three weeks ago and knew what I had to do."

There was no such trouble for world number one and top seed Caroline Wozniacki as she is looking for her second clay court title of the season.

She cruised to a 6-1 6-2 win over Zuzana Kucova - the Slovakian qualifier having no answer to Wozniacki’s power at the back of the court.

It wasn’t so straight forward for Vera Zvonareva as she was taken to three sets by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The second seed dropped the opening set 3-6 but battled back to take the next two 6-4 6-2 to see off the challenge from Pavlyuchenkova.

But there was bad news for Victoria Azarenka who was forced to retire from her match against Julia Goerges - despite taking the first set.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw