Laura, Carla pull off upset wins in Madrid

MADRID: Britain's Laura Robson and Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro conjured up big first-round upset victories at the Madrid Open when they surprised fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and ninth-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur on Monday.

Robson, the world number 41, thumped Radwanska 6-3 6-1 on the clay at the Magic Box arena and 23rd-ranked Suarez Navarro ousted Stosur 7-6 6-2 to delight the home crowd with her seventh career victory over a top-10 player.

Radwanska was the biggest casualty as second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia eased past Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru 7-5 6-2 and third-seeded Belarussian Victoria Azarenka had to fight past Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 7-6.

Suarez Navarro, who has never won a WTA tour title, was playing her first match since losing to Pavlyuchenkova in the final in Oeiras on Sunday.

World number one and top seed Serena Williams continues her Madrid title defence with a second-round match against Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino on Tuesday. (Reuters)