Top seed Kerber out of French Open
— Angelique Kerber became the first top seed to lose in the opening round at Roland Garros as tearful Petra Kvitova swept to victory in her first match since surviving a knife attack which almost ended her career.
German world number one Kerber, the reigning U.S. Open champion, dropped serve six times on her way to a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova.
“The pressure is always there especially in the big tournaments and the Grand Slams,” said Kerber, who won her first major at the Australian Open in 2016.
“Now I have to find to myself again and just try to forget the clay court season as soon as possible and then reset for the grass courts.”
It was the second successive first round exit at Roland Garros for Kerber and continued a miserable spell for the 29-year-old on clay.
She lost her opener in Stuttgart where she was the defending champion, suffered a thigh injury in the third round in Madrid and lost first time out in Rome.
On Sunday, she fell a double break down to trail 5-1 to her Russian opponent who she was facing for the 12th time.