Victoria Azarenka out on opening day of French Open
Victoria Azarenka was the biggest casualty of the opening day of the French Open on Sunday, with the 10th seed managing just three games in her first round match against Gisela Dulko.
The unseeded Dulko won the match 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour to inflict Azarenka’s first opening round loss at a Grand Slam since the 2007 French Open.
There was better news, however, for defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in her opening match, with the Russian putting recent poor form behind her to defeat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-1 to get her title defence underway.
Venus Williams was another to get off to a winning start at Roland Garros on Sunday, defeating Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-3 in their opening match.
Italian Open titlist Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez could not muster the same form that saw the left-hander win her way past Jelena Jankovic in the final in Rome, with the 20th seed upset by the little-known Akgul Amanmuradova in her first round match.
There was no title-winning hangover for Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, who maintained the form that took her to the Madrid Open title a week earlier in her 6-1, 6-1 victory over Canada’s Heidi El Tabakh on centre court on Sunday.
Nadia Petrova, the most in form of the Russian women heading into Roland Garros, and Italy’s Flavia Pennetta also move through to the second round after their respective victories on the opening day of play.
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