Trio Suffer Pre-Wimbledon Setbacks

Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, and Agnieszka Radwanska have all crashed out of the Eastbourne event, hampering their grass-court preparations, ahead of Wimbledon.

In straight sets in the first round, Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova defeated Kvitova. Makarova is 44 places below the defending Wimbledon champion in the standings, but caused an upset with a 7-5 6-4 success. The Czech ace defeated her Russian opponent in the same tournament, last year, but this time the tables were turned, and Kvitova admits it is not what she had hoped for, ahead of the third Grand Slam of the year.

Makarova is the current third favourite to repeat her success at SW19, this summer, in the tennis betting offers

The 22-year-old conceded: “It’s not good preparation, but I have more days for getting ready for Wimbledon. I have to work hard now to improve my game.”

Kvitova, who will be the second seed at SW19, behind Maria Sharapova, was not the only high profile casualty in round one.

Former world number one, Wozniacki, was broken three times in the first set, and went on to lose in three sets to the American, Christina McHale, 6-1 6-7 6-4. The Dane, who won the Eastbourne event in 2009, has never progressed beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon, and she will go into this year’s tournament seemingly struggling with her game.

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