���˿���

British number one Johanna Konta suffered another early tournament exit, losing in straight sets to qualifier Bernarda Pera in the Madrid Open.

Konta lost 6-4 6-3 to go out in the second round to the American, who is ranked 97th in the world.

She has only won nine matches and reached one quarter-final this year.

The world number 23 hit 34 unforced errors in the match compared to 19 by Pera, who also knocked the Briton out of the Australian Open in January.

Konta lost her serve in the opening game of the match - the only break of serve in the first set - and reached 3-3 in the second set before being broken again.

She had three break points in the following game but failed to covert and then lost a third game in a row to lose in one hour 43 minutes.

Pera will play unseeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in the third round after she beat fourth seed Elina Svitolina in three sets 2-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.

Elsewhere, Spanish number one and world number three Garbine Muguruza came from behind to beat Donna Vekic 2-6 6-4 6-1 and reach the third round in Madrid for the first time.

World number one Simona Halep breezed past Belgium's Elise Mertens, winning 6-0 6-3 in 71 minutes to end Mertens' 13-match winning streak.

Halep won the first eight games of the match and hit 23 winners as she set up a meeting with Czech Kristyna Pliskova.

World number 10 Petra Kvitova won her seventh consecutive match with a 6-3 7-6 (10-8) victory over Puerto Rico's Monica Puig.

Czech Kvitova, who won the Prague Open on Saturday, will play Anett Kontaveit next.