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1 historic upset for women

 
Angelique Kerber is the first woman seeded No. 1 to lose in the French Open’s first round in the professional era (1968).
Angelique Kerber is the first woman seeded No. 1 to lose in the French Open’s first round in the professional era (1968).
Published May 29, 2017

PARIS — Angelique Kerber has not been playing at all like someone ranked No. 1 this season, and on Sunday she became the first woman seeded No. 1 to lose in the French Open's first round in the professional era (1968).

Kerber, who ended Serena Williams' stay atop the WTA rankings last year, was gone from Roland Garros by lunchtime on Day 1, putting up little resistance in a 6-2, 6-2 loss to 40th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova.

"Well," Makarova said when informed of the history made by her victory, "that's unbelievable."

Kerber won the Australian Open and U.S. Open, and was the Wimbledon runnerup, in 2016, surging to the top spot in the rankings. But this year has been a struggle: The German has a 19-13 record, losing four of her past six matches.

Her strokes were off all match against Makarova, who has reached two major semifinals but never been past the fourth round in Paris. Makarova even pointed out that she never before had played a singles match in the tournament's main stadium (she was the 2013 French Open women's doubles champion).

Kerber had only four winners and 12 unforced errors in the first set and didn't even earn a break point until the last game, which Makarova won, anyway.

"It was really tough. She's a No. 1, and she's a great player, and I knew that I have to win it; she's not going to miss it," Makarova said. "I was also fighting with my emotion."

The other major story of Day 1 was Petra Kvitova.

Sweat-soaked and still wearing her match outfit, Kvitova was looking for someone to hug as she wandered into the players' lounge shortly after leaving the court.

She found her father, Jiri, and her brother, also Jiri, who greeted her with warm embraces and joyous kisses on the cheek. Kvitova's family members rarely attend her tournaments, but this was different — "special" was the word she, and others, kept using.

Less than six months after a knife attack at her home, two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova was back competing, winning the first match of her comeback 6-3, 6-2 against 86th-ranked Julia Boserup of the United States.

"I'm happy with the game, of course," Kvitova said, "but I mean, it wasn't really about the game today."

Indeed, just being there under a cloud-filled sky at Court Philippe Chatrier was a triumph of sorts for Kvitova, who needed surgery on her left hand — the one she uses to hold her racket — after being stabbed by an intruder in the Czech Republic in December. She was undecided until late last week whether to even try to play the French.

"For us, it's amazing. It's miracle. Not even me or Petra thought she could be ready to come back so soon," said her coach, Jiri Novak. "The prognosis was, let's just say, not optimistic."

"She's one of the nicest girls, and we are all really happy to see her back. After what she went through, it's incredible," Boserup said.

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Kvitova began things with a quick forehand winner on the opening point.

In a record 20th appearance at the tournament, Venus Williams eased into the second round with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over Qiang Wang. The 2015 U.S. Open runner­up, Roberta Vinci, exited the in the first round for the fourth year in a row. The 31st-seeded Vinci, most famous for ending Williams' hopes of a calendar year Grand Slam by beating her in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows in 2015, lost to Rio Olympics gold medalist Monica Puig 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

On the men's side, sixth-seeded Dominic Thiem, who reached the semifinals last year, comfortably beat Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-0, 6-2. Thiem is an outside favorite to win the tournament. He is the only player to have beaten Rafael Nadal on clay this season.