Tennis prodigy makes good at French Open

PARIS – Grand Slam losses by highranked, well-known and accomplished players to, well, lower-ranked, lesserknown and less-accomplished opponents – and there have been so many in the French Open women's draw that just three of the top 10 seeds remain after merely two rounds – offer a rare opportunity for those unheralded winners to enjoy the spotlight.

So meet Leolia Jeanjean: age 26; from Montpellier, France; ranked 227th; a wild-card entry after never before being a Slam participant; seemingly destined as a kid for great things in tennis, so much so that there were sponsorship deals before she was old enough to attend high school, until, that is, an injured knee derailed things. She left the sport for a couple of years, wound up moving to the U.S., where she played college tennis at Baylor, then Arkansas, then Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, while pursuing her studies in finance. At Lynn, she went unbeaten in singles and doubles, so it occurred to her maybe a professional career was worth a try.

Good choice for Jeanjean. Bad one for her foes so far at Roland Garros, including Karolina Pliskova, a two-time major finalist and the No. 8 seed, who was unable to offer much resistance Thursday and was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Jeanjean on Thursday.

Later in the day, No. 9 Danielle Collins, the Australian Open runner-up in

January, departed, too, eliminated by 50th-ranked Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-3 in a matchup between Americans.

Pliskova and Collins joined all five top-10 seeds from the bottom half of the draw on the way out: No. 2 Barbora Krejcikova – the 2021 champion who was beaten in the first round Monday, then pulled out of doubles, too, because she tested positive for COVID-19 – No. 4 Maria Sakkari, No. 5 Anett Kontaveit, No. 6 Ons Jabeur and No. 10 Garbiñe Muguruza were all gone by Wednesday.

The men's draw has certainly seen some excitement – including five-set victories after being match point down for both No. 3 Alexander Zverev and No. 6 Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday – but the nine top-10 seeds who finished their matches before Thursday night all made it to the third round.

No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the runnerup at Roland Garros a year ago, was playing qualifier Zdenek Kolar at night.