Former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka was on Monday dumped out in the first round by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, a defeat that will send his world ranking plummeting, while late evening rain halted Rafael Nadal’s first match in his pursuit of an 11th Roland Garros title.
When play was called off just before 8pm, world No. 1 Nadal was 6-4, 6-3, 0-3 ahead of Italian lucky loser Simone Bolelli.
The downpours also prevented two-time champion Maria Sharapova from starting her opener against Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands.
Photo: EPA
However, there were no such problems for 2016 champion Novak Djokovic or Australian Open winner Caroline Wozniacki, who both cruised through to the second round before the rain fell.
Wawrinka, who lost to Nadal in last year’s final and won the 2015 title, was beaten in a five-set thriller 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 by the Spanish world No. 67 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
The 33-year-old has been plagued by a knee injury and arrived at Roland Garros having won just one match on clay last week in Geneva, Switzerland, his first event in three months.
The defeat means that the three-time Grand Slam champion will slip from 30th in the world to outside the top 250 after the tournament, having failed to defend the ranking points he gained last year.
“There is no frustration [over the rankings slip]. It’s just tough,” said Wawrinka, seeded 23rd this year. “But again, I knew from the beginning that it will take a long, a lot of time to get back. I knew that from the surgery that it will take a year at least to get where I want to be.”
There were worrying signs for his fans when he pulled up and called for a medical timeout after just six games, but he played down fears he had caused further damage to his already troublesome left knee.
“My knee is good. I blocked something else at the beginning of the first set, and that’s why I had to ask,” he said.
The 23rd seed found his rhythm from nowhere after a poor first set, crunching two massive forehands to break for a 3-1 lead in the second.
Serbian star Djokovic had little trouble in reaching round two, seeing off Brazilian world No. 134 Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion dropped serve three times and will have to markedly improve to challenge Nadal in the latter stages of the tournament, but he was still far too good for Dutra Silva on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka’s return to Grand Slam tennis lasted just two sets, as the Belarussian slumped to a 7-5, 7-5 loss to Katerina Siniakova.
Azarenka, who missed much of last season after being embroiled in a custody battle for her son, was broken to love in the 12th games of each set to be dumped out by the Czech world No. 57.
It was Azarenka’s first Grand Slam match since losing to Simona Halep in the Wimbledon fourth round in July last year, but she still believes she can return to the top of the game.
“No doubt about it. Maybe not today, but no doubt about it,” the now-world No. 82 said.
Petra Kvitova also found life hard, but the two-time Wimbledon champion fought back from a set down to beat Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
“I’ve won 12 matches straight on clay, but I’m still a long way from Rafa,” she said in reference to Nadal’s upcoming bid for an 11th men’s singles crown.
Wozniacki held off the challenge of American Danielle Collins to ease through their match 7-6 (7/2), 6-1, while men’s seventh seed Dominic Thiem, a semi-finalist in each of the past two years, brushed aside Ilya Ivashka in three sets.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei fell to a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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