BERLIN (AP) – Three top seeds Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Bianca Andreescu of Canada were knocked out in the second round of a lawn tennis tournament in Berlin.

Sabalenka lost to former USA top ten player Madison Keys 4:6, 6:1, 5:7. Svitolina went down to Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 4-6, 5-7. Andreescu drew a short straw against Elyse Cornet in France 6:7 (2:7), 5:7.

For the three losers, it was their only appearance at the Steffi Graf Stadium after a bye in the first round. After rounding out the top three, former world number one Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland slipped into the favourites.

German number one Angelique Kerber will take on former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in her round of 16 on Thursday.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210616-99-22944/2