The sixth seed, Eugenie Bouchard, a semi-finalist at the French Open last year on her way to the Wimbledon final, chose the wrong day to switch off against the clay specialist Kristina Mladenovic and experienced the pain of first-round defeat for the first time .
Mladenovic, who has had many of her best wins here – including the scalp of the champion Li Na last year – and has been designated the WTA’s Rising Star, won 6-4, 6-4 on a grey but far from dull Tuesday in an hour and 23 minutes that the Canadian may well have wished she had spent elsewhere. Four double-faults and 24 unforced errors betrayed her uncertainty.
Bouchard was as nonplussed as her French opponent was elated. “I don’t know what to say,” she said. “It’s been kind of the same as how I have been feeling recently on the court. Just not like myself. I felt I was in the match. But, tennis-wise, I still knew I was far off from how well I can play.”
Still, she handled the setback with admirable sangfroid. “It’s important to try to move on quickly in tennis because every Monday there is a new chance. So I’m going to try to forget this one. Hopefully the grass will be good for me. The plan is to go and play and play a couple of warmup tournaments [before Wimbledon].”
Bouchard joins the queue out of Roland Garros with the 14th seed Agnieszka Radwanska and Venus Williams (15), who went that way earlier than they or anyone else expected the day before, the Pole in three sets to Annika Beck, the American – a seven-times grand slam winner – falling to her compatriot Sloane Stephens.
There were no surprises in the early-evening gloom on Court Philippe Chatrier as Venus’s sister, Serena, hit an encouraging return to form and fitness after withdrawing from Rome last week to protect an elbow injury and took just under an hour to beat the Czech qualifier Andrea Hlavackova 6-2, 6-3.
She was in control throughout, although probably was not happy that five double faults cancelled out her five aces. While Maria Sharapova, a winner in Rome last weekend, would seem to have moved into marginal favouritism, there is plenty of time for the world No 1 to gather momentum before a possible meeting with her old friend in the final.
The fourth seed Petra Kvitova was stretched all the way in the first match of the day on the main court, needing two hours and 25 minutes to get past the New Zealander Marina Erakovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. “I’m just glad I’m still in and still playing,” she said, complaining – as did a lot of players – that the sluggish courts were tough to master in the cool conditions.
