Erakovic bundled out of French Open

New Zealand tennis No 1 Marina Erakovic lost in the first round of the French Open in Paris.

The 29-year-old Aucklander went down 7-6(4) 6-4 to 49thranked American Shelby Rogers, who reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros last year.

Erakovic made a bright start, leading 4-2 in the first set and 4-1 in the tiebreaker, but couldn’t close out. It continues a losing trend for Erakovic who has not won a tour level match in 2017. Her ranking is likely to be outside the top 150 at the end of the tournament.

‘‘It was a tough one today and it is disappointing and I feel it,’’ Erakovic said. ‘‘But I played the best I could today, I did the game plan and controlled my emotions pretty well and there were just a few key moments that didn’t go well.’’

She highlighted three key moments which cost her the match.

‘‘One was when I was up a break (at 4-2 ) in the first set but I didn’t consolidate the break and hold my serve well, I played a sloppy game there. Then in the tie breaker I took my foot off the pedal for a couple of points and then she played really good. In the second set I had a break point and I missed a forehand down the line.’’

Erakovic now turns her attention to the grass court season and will head to the UK on Thursday to prepare for a challenger tournament in Surbiton next week.

‘‘I have the grass court season coming up now. One of our plans ahead for the European summer was not to spend too much time on the clay and focus on the grass and that will be fun and I love that surface. I don’t know if things will turn, but I believe they will.’’

In other matches, world No 1 Angelique Kerber’s nightmare season hit a new low when she was dumped out of the Open 6-2 6-2 by 40th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova.

The German became the first top-seeded woman to lose in the opening round of the French Open since the sport turned professional in 1968 – and the disparity between the players in her Russian opponent’s favour was as wide as the scoreline suggests.

Cutting a troubled figure on court a world away from the feisty player who last season battled her way to two grand slam titles, Kerber lacked the pace and power to trouble a fellow left-hander.

Kerber, 29, has struggled with injury this year, withdrawing from the Madrid Open.