No-call cited in collapse at French Open

PARIS — Kristina Mladenovic blamed her French Open meltdown on her U.S. Open lockdown — and she wasn’t too pleased about a nocall on a double bounce that helped her opponent avoid ceding the first set Wednesday, either.

France’s Mladenovic lost 7-5, 6-3 in the first round at Roland Garros to Laura Siegemund, blowing a 5-1 lead in the opening set after holding a set point that she thought she converted with a drop shot.

Mladenovic was furious that chair umpire Eva Asderaki didn’t spot the extra bounce that came during a 10-stroke exchange. Siegemund ran for Mladenovic’s short ball and got it back over the net — although a TV replay showed the ball had bounced twice.

“I think the chair umpire was the only person not to have seen it,” said Mladenovic.

At Flushing Meadows this month, Mladenovic threw away a 6-1, 5-1 lead in her second-round singles match. Then she got kicked out of doubles at the U.S. Open — where she and Timea Babos were seeded No. 1 — because she came in contact during a practice session and card game with a countryman, Benoit Paire, who tested positive for the coronavirus in New York.

Public health officials said Mladenovic was at risk and was placed in quarantine after her singles exit but just before her doubles match.

Inspired teenager

Danish women are so scarce in top-level tennis that you would have to go all the way back to 1989 to find one not named Caroline Wozniacki in the second round of any Grand Slam tournament.

Until Tuesday, that is. That’s when 17-year-old qualifier Clara Tauson earned her first tour-level victory — in her main-draw debut at a major, no less — by eliminating U.S. Open semifinalist and No. 21 seed Jennifer Brady 6-4, 3-6, 9-7.

“I was just grateful to be there,” Tauson said after the 2-hour, 45-minute match on Court Simonne Mathieu, the third-biggest arena at Roland Garros.

“I’ve never really experienced a match like that,” she said.