Clara Tauson missed a match point in the second set, when she lost in three sets to Russian Anastasia Potapova on Monday evening in the WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart.
Tauson in the end was forced to surrender after 2 hours and 41 minutes of tennis, when she lost in three sets, 6-2, 6-7, 3-6 to the resilient Russian.
Tauson, who struggled to find her rhythm in her last match in Miami, when she lost to an injury-plagued Paula Badosa, otherwise dominated play in an excellent first set where she pushed Potapova from side to side with her powerful ground strokes.
The second set turned into a close affair, with both players showing great tennis, but Potapova eventually prevailed in the tiebreaker winning 10-8 after Tauson had failed to convert a match point with the scoreline 8-7 in her favor.
The disappointment of losing the second set took the sting out of Tauson who looked visibly deflated from the start of the second set. She no longer had the same energy and power in her game and Potapova seized the initiative with her powerful game from the baseline.
The tournament in Stuttgart marked Tauson's opening to the clay court season. The next task for the Dane is next week's big WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid.