Former champion Stan Wawrinka and two-time grand slam winner Victoria Azarenka have both been beaten in the first round of the French Open in Paris
Stan Wawrinka. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, was knocked out in five sets by Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
The Swiss, seeded 23rd in Paris, has been clawing his way back to the top after undergoing two knee surgeries last year.
Meanwhile Azarenka was beaten in straight sets by Katerina Siniakova, short of match practice after a legal battle over the custody of her son.
The Belarusian returned to tennis in June last year following the birth of her son Leo in 2016 but then put her career on hold again after a judge in California had ruled that her son Leo should not leave the state until custody was resolved.
The former world number one returned to Europe at this month's Madrid Open, her first clay court tennis in two years. She is currently ranked 82 in the world.
"Even though I am doing good things in practice, I'm not able to transfer it to the match," Azarenka said.
There were wins for Novak Djokovic and Caroline Wozniacki, however two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova flirted with an early exit but did enough to overcome Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg to move into the second round.
Lucky loser Marco Trungelliti had to ask his 89-year-old grandma to get out of the shower so they could start a 10-hour drive to Paris that ended with a 132 thousand dollar pay day at the French tennis Open.
Argentine Trungelliti returned home to Barcelona after losing in qualifying last week, but made the dash to the French capital when Australian Nick Kyrgios pulled out of his tie against Bernard Tomic with an elbow injury.
Trungelliti, ranked 190th in the world, made the 1000km journey with his grandma Dafne, mother Susanna and brother Andre and arrived in Paris just before midnight the night before his match.
And the fairytale continued as he earned a 4-set victory over the Australian qualifier, who has been ranked as high as 17th and reached the 2011 Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Trungelliti's family were visiting him in Barcelona, where he now lives, and planned to rent a car to travel around Spain during their holiday.
-RNZ
