Daria Kasatkina's first tournament back in Europe representing her new homeland of Australia has been ended by one of her old Russian teammates.

Kasatkina, in her second tournament since announcing her new allegiance to the green-and-gold, was edged out 6-3 7-6 (7-3) on the clay at the Madrid Open by Ekaterina Alexandrova, who was her colleague when Russia lifted the Billie Jean King Cup in 2021.

The 30-year-old Alexandrova had never had much of a record on the surface that Kasatkina normally enjoys, but she's transformed her clay-court fortunes this season by reaching two semi-finals in her last two tournaments in Charleston and Stuttgart.

And in a topsy-turvy third-round encounter at the Caja Magica on Sunday, featuring 11 breaks of serve, it felt as if Kasatkina was largely having to play catch-up as nine double faults contributed to the world No.14's uneven display against her old colleague.

The 30-year-old Alexandrova, a top-20 player last year and still a force to be reckoned with at No.22 in the rankings, held firm in the crucial tiebreak, winning the last three points to consign Kasatkina to defeat in an hour and 37 minutes.

Her exit will doubtless be a disappointment for the 27-year-old Kasatkina, who's enjoyed her best grand slam results on clay, having reached the French Open semi-finals in 2022 and the quarters in 2018 and hoping for another good run at Roland Garros next month.

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka had earlier been pushed out of her comfort zone, having to fight back from a set down to beat tough Belgian Elise Mertens 3-6 6-2 6-1.

But there were a few major casualties as third seed Jessica Pegula, sixth seed Jasmine Paolini and 10th seed Elena Rybakina all tumbled out.

American Pegula went down 6-3 6-2 to Japan's Moyuka Uchijima while French Open and Wimbledon finalist Paolini was hammered 6-2 6-1 by a resurgent Maria Sakkari, who's found a new lease of life after reuniting with former coach Tom Hill.

In the evening match, Elina Svitolina maintained her remarkable 2025 unbeaten record on clay, not even having dropped a set on the surface this year, as she beat former Wimbledon champion Rybakina 6-3 6-4.