World number one Angelique Kerber crashed out of the Rome Masters on Wednesday, the top seed beaten 6-4 6-0 in the second round by Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.
The German’s 56-minute knock out came two days after she was confirmed at the top of the WTA rankings, displacing Serena Williams after making it to the third round at last week’s Madrid Open.
The defeat demonstrated more of the patchy and inconsistent form which the 29-year-old cannot seem to shake off since starting to duel with Williams at the top of the WTA listings last season.
She lost serve five times to join another drawcard at the Foro Italico Maris Sharapova on the sidelines.
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