Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams made first-round exits at the French Open on day one.
Neither was a particular surprise as Williams, who turns 39 next month, had a tough draw against ninth seed Elina Svitolina, while Kerber has only just recovered from an ankle injury that kept her out for a month.
She looked short of matches as she was sent packing by Russian teenager Anastasia Potapova 6-4 6-2 on Sunday.
Kerber has never been particularly at home on clay but, having added Wimbledon to her 2016 Australian Open and US Open titles, she now only needs the Roland Garros trophy for a career Grand Slam.
FEATURE: Do the surface specialists still exist?
The result was the best win of Potapova’s fledgling career, and the 18-year-old will face fellow teen Marketa Vondrousova in round two.
“She really played good. I tried my best. I was able to practise the last few days really good but it was not really a long clay-court preparation with everything,” Kerber said.
Welcome to the show ????
In her Roland-Garros main draw debut, @nastiaapotapova upsets No. 5 seed Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-2.#RG19 pic.twitter.com/abU80zJTyl
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 26, 2019
“I was happy to at least go on court, playing a match. Of course it’s not like I hoped for.”
Williams made her French Open debut way back in 1997, reaching her only final five years later but she, too, has struggled with injury problems this year and 34 unforced errors in 18 games cost her as she went down 6-3 6-3.
The 38-year-old, now ranked 52, praised Svitolina, saying: “I thought she played really well and took her opportunities. I wish her luck in the tournament. Maybe a few too many unforced errors today.”
It was a welcome win for Svitolina, who has been sidelined with a knee problem and had not won a match since Indian Wells in March prior to arriving in Paris.
Second seed Karolina Pliskova arrived in Paris full of confidence after winning her biggest title on clay in Rome last weekend and she made a solid start, beating American Madison Brengle 6-2 6-3.
Sloane Stephens, the runner-up 12 months ago, was also a straight-sets winner, although she was pushed to a tie-break in the second by Misaki Doi before coming through 6-3 7-6(4).
Aside from Kerber’s defeat, it was a good day for the seeds, with Belinda Bencic, Petra Martic and Garbine Muguruza all winning.
Former champion Muguruza had the honour of playing the first match on the new show court, Simonne Mathieu, and she recovered from a set down to defeat Taylor Townsend 5-7 6-2 6-2.
20 December 2017
It's amazing how little has changed in 14 years.In 2003, Serena Williams beat a succession... More
23 March 2017
Think umpiring is an easy job? Think again. Because umpire's don't just have to keep an ey... More
17 August 2017
Alicia Molik, a former top 10 star who owned one of the sport’s best serves, believes se... More
7 November 2016
Double Wimbledon champion, double Olympic champion and now world No.1. But what doesn't An... More