Stan’s nightmare run continues
FORMER CHAMP: FIRST ROUND EXIT AT ROLAND GARROS
Former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka continued to struggle with form and fitness as he was dumped out in the first round by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez yesterday, a defeat which will send his world ranking plummeting, while Victoria Azarenka also suffered a shock exit.
Wawrinka, who lost to Rafael Nadal in last year’s final and won the 2015 title, was beaten in a fiveset thriller 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 by the Spanish world number 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 in Geneva last week, 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 in 2017.
There were worrying signs for his fans when he pulled up with the same left knee injury that has plagued him in recent months and called for a medical timeout after just six games.
Former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka’s return to Grand Slam tennis lasted just two sets as the Belarusian 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 over her son, was broken to love in the 12th game of each set to be dumped out by the Czech world No 57. The two-time Australian Open champion has now won just two matches at Roland Garros in the last five years.
Siniakova moves onto a second-round match with Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova, who stunned defending champion Jelena Ostapenko on Sunday.
It was Azarenka’s first Grand Slam match since losing to Simona Halep in the Wimbledon fourth round last July, 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 insisted.
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.