Serena Williams lost her first match of 2015, falling by 6-2, 6-3 to Petra Kvitova in the semifinals of the Madrid Open. The loss ended Williams’s 27-match streak of wins on the WTA tour, which dated to 2014. For Kvitova, a Czech who has twice won at Wimbledon, it was the first win over Williams in six meetings. She dominated throughout with her powerful groundstrokes and broke Williams’s serve six times.
Maria Sharapova was also eliminated, losing, 6-2, 6-4, to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first semifinal of the clay-court tournament. In the men’s tournament, Rafael Nadal of Spain advanced to the semifinals by beating Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 6-3, 6-4.