Halep thrashed by qualifier in Stuttgart

Stuttgart - Romania's world number six Simona Halep crashed to a chastening 6-1, 6-2 defeat against German qualifier Laura Siegemund in the second round of the WTA Stuttgart Open on Thursday.

Halep, seeded fourth at the clay-court event, dropped serve five times as she was bundled out in just over an hour by an opponent ranked 65 places below her.

The Romanian reached the final of the 2014 French Open and climbed to second in the rankings later that year, but she has struggled to reproduce her best form in 2016 and suffered a first-round exit at January's Australian Open.

Results from the fourth day of the WTA Stuttgart Open on Thursday (x denotes seeding):

Second round

Laura Siegemund (GER) bt Simona Halep (ROM x4) 6-1, 6-2

Petra Kvitova (CZE x5) bt Monica Niculescu (ROM) 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2

Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP x7) bt Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) 6-2, 6-2