Maria Sharapova drops out of Internazionali BNL d'Italia through injury

The Russian, who has returned to competitive tennis following her 15-month doping suspension, was looking to continue her climb up the rankings in an attempt to qualify for the main Wimbledon draw by reaching the semi-finals.

However, not long after learning she was not to be granted a wild card for the French Open, where she twice won the tournament, Sharapova had to concede her match against the 16th seed when 2-1 up in the deciding set following a medical time out.

Lucic-Baroni, ranked 22 in the world, had forced a break in the first game of the match and went on to take the opening set 6-4.

Sharapova, who had reached the semi-finals of the Stuttgart Open, mounted a recovery to win the second 6-3 and was 2-1 ahead with a break before a leg injury forced her out of action.

Lucic-Baroni will go on to face either top seed Angelique Kerber, the current world number one, or Anett Kontaveit in the third round.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, British number one Johanna Konta, the fifth seed, saw off Kazakh player Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-0.

The world number six, who received a bye in the first round, will next take on the winner of the clash between Lesia Tsurenko and Venus Williams, who play on Wednesday, for a place in the quarter-finals.

Seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova is also into the last 16 after the Russian defeated Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-1 7-6 (7/3).

In Tuesday's first-round matches, American number 10 seed Madison Keys suffered an unexpected early loss, going down 2-6 7-5 7-5 to Australian Daria Gavrilova.

Kristina Mladenovic, the 13th seed from France is also out after she was beaten 7-6 (8-6) 7/5 by Germany's Julia Goerges.

Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, seeded 15, did advance after coming from behind to win 2-6 6-2 6-1 against Monica Niculescu of Romania.

Russia's Ekaterina Makarova beat Italian Roberta Vinci 6-2 6-1 to secure a second-round match against fourth seed Dominika Cibulkova.

Latvian Jelena Ostapenko booked a date with number three seed Garbine Muguruza Blanco after beating American Shelby Rogers 6-3 6-4, while world number three Karolina Pliskova awaits Lauren Davis following the USA player's 6-2 5-7 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.