Paris (AFP) - Arab trailblazer Ons Jabeur crashed out of the French Open at the first hurdle on Sunday as teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz prepared to give Paris a glimpse of the future as full crowds returned to Roland Garros after a pandemic-hit two years.
Sixth seed Jabeur, seen as a potential champion, despite never having previously got past the fourth round, lost 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 to Poland's 56th-ranked Magda Linette.
Jabeur came into the event with a season-leading 17 wins on clay in 2022, the prestigious Madrid title under her belt and a runners-up spot to world number one Iga Swiatek in Rome.
However, she was undone Sunday by 47 unforced errors in the two hour 28-minute match.
"Obviously I was expecting better but we say maybe something happens bad because there is something good happening in the future," said Jabeur.
Linette had lost to Jabeur in the third round in 2021 having stunned an injury-hit top seed Ashleigh Barty in her previous match.
"I just tried to stay focused after the first set and tried to make her uncomfortable," said Linette.
Also making a premature exit was 2016 champion and 10th seed Garbine Muguruza, beaten 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 by Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, the oldest woman in the tournament who came back from a set and break down.
World number 46 Kanepi, who turns 37 next month, made the last eight at the French Open in 2008 and 2012.Sunday's victory was her 10th top ten win at a Slam.
Two-time runner-up Dominic Thiem, whose ranking has slipped to 194 after a lengthy battle with a wrist injury, was another early casualty, losing 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to 87th-ranked Hugo Dellien of Bolivia.
Thiem, the 2020 US Open champion, has yet to win a match in six attempts since his return in March.He has now lost 10 tour-level matches in a row.His last victory came in Rome just over a year ago.
'Not greatest feeling'
The 28-year-old Austrian, a former world number three, reached at least the quarter-finals at Roland Garros five years running from 2016 to 2020.
He finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2018 and 2019.
"It's not the greatest feeling to go in a Grand Slam knowing that all is not perfect in practice.I don't play like I would like to in practice," said the Austrian.
Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Alissiame came into this Roland Garros without a win in two visits.
That almost became three on Sunday when he gave up the first two sets to Peruvian qualifier and Grand Slam debutant Juan Pablo Varillas before he recovered to win 2-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
It was the first time Auger-Alissiame had come back from two sets behind to win.
Alcaraz, 19, bidding to become just the eighth teenager to capture a major men's title, is widely tipped to end the dominance of 13-time champion Rafael Nadal and two-time winner Novak Djokovic.
He is the tour's dominant player in 2022, winning a season-leading 28 matches with just three losses.
Three of his titles have come on clay in Rio, Barcelona and Madrid where he defeated Nadal, Djokovic and world number three Alexander Zverev to take the title.
He begins his French Open campaign against Argentine lucky loser Juan Ignacio Londero, ranked at 141 but who made the last 16 in 2019.
Alcaraz was ranked 97 this time last year. He was only two when Nadal won the first of his 13 French Opens in 2005 but he made his mark at the 2021 tournament where he came through qualifying to reach the third round.
Top seed Djokovic, who turned 35 on Sunday, and fifth-seeded Nadal, with 41 Grand Slam titles between them, are not in action until Monday.
German third seed Zverev, a semi-finalist in 2021 when he gave up a two sets lead to Stefanos Tsitsipas, begins his bid for a maiden Slam title against Austria's Sebastian Ofner, ranked at 218.
Also in action on Sunday is Greek fourth seed Maria Sakkari against Clara Burel of France.
Sakkari was a semi-finalist at the French Open in 2021 where she was defeated in three sets by eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova.
