No. 1 Kerber out of French Open in 1st round
No. 1 Kerber out of French Open in 1st round
PARIS — A French Open already missing Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova is now without top-ranked Angelique Kerber, too, lending even more of a feeling that the women’s championship is anyone’s to win.
Kerber has not been playing at all like one of the best at what she does, and on Sunday, she became the first woman seeded No. 1 to lose in the French Open’s first round in the professional era.
Kerber, who replaced Williams atop the WTA rankings this month, was gone from Roland Garros by lunchtime on Day 1, putting up little resistance while being beaten 6-2, 6-2 by 40th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.
Other significant women’s results as the year’s second Grand Slam tournament began:
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova played — and won — her first match since being stabbed by an intruder at her home in December; Venus Williams began her record 20th appearance at Roland Garros with a 6-4.
7-6 (3) victory over Qiang Wang of China; and Rio Olympics gold-medalist Monica Puig eliminated 2015 U.S. Open runner-up Roberta Vinci 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
“I think it doesn’t really matter how I played,” Kvitova said, adding that the victory was all that mattered.
Add in that 23-time major champion Serena Williams is pregnant and won’t play until next season, and five-time major champion Sharapova was refused a wild card in Paris as she returns from a 15-month doping suspension, and the rest of the field might have more reason than usual to believe in the chance to claim a Grand Slam trophy.
The sixth-seeded player won a spectacular 12-shot rally during his 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 win over Bernard Tomic.
Thiem first chased a drop shot, hit a shot between his legs and sealed the point with a stunning passing shot.
[...] the oldest man in the singles draw — 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic, who is also known for his big serve and 6-foot-11 stature — beat one of the youngest, 18-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas, 7-6 (5), 7-5, 6-4; and 11th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov won his first match in four years at Roland Garros, beating Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.