Top seed Kerber crashes out of French Open
Angelique Kerber became the first women's top seed in the Open era to lose in the opening round of the French Open on Sunday.
The German has been out of form in 2017, despite sitting at the top of the rankings, and the only surprise about her 6-2 6-2 loss to Ekaterina Makarova was the magnitude of it.
Russian Makarova, ranked 40, won five of the first six games and, although she came under more pressure in the second set, she kept Kerber at arm's length.
The top seed dropped serve six times and made 25 unforced errors in a match that lasted an hour and 22 minutes.
Makarova, who has made the fourth round here twice, was a tough opponent for a player who does not like clay and has reached just one WTA Tour final all year.
It is a second consecutive first-round loss at Roland Garros for Kerber, who won the Australian Open and US Open titles last year and reached the Wimbledon final.
Elsewhere, Petra Kvitova enjoyed a happy return to the sport as she beat Julia Julia Boserup to book a place in the second round of the French Open.
Five months after suffering career-threatening injuries when she was stabbed by an intruder in her home, Kvitova looked sharp and eager in a 6-3 6-2 triumph.
Her parents Jiri and Pavla and brothers Jiri and Libor were in the stands on Court Philippe Chatrier, with her team decked out in matching T-shirts saying 'Courage, Belief, Pojd ('Come on' in Czech)'.
She needed just an hour and 13 minutes to wrap up victory and will play either Bethanie Mattek-Sands or Evgeniya Rodina in round two.
Kvitova still does not have perfect feeling in her hand but has not been in pain and is hoping it will eventually recover 100 per cent.