French Open: Australian Open champs Wawrinka and Na make unwanted history

Paris Former champion Li Na the secondseeded Chinese superstar and Australian Open winner was sensationally dumped out of the French Open in the first round Tuesday beaten by a tearful Kristina MladenovicLi the 2011 champion went down 75 36 61 to the 103rdranked blonde Frenchwoman the Roland Garros junior champion in 2009 to suffer her first opening round defeat in Paris in eight visitsChinas LiNareturns the ball to Frances Kristina Mladenovic during their French tennis Open first round match at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris on Tuesday PicAFPThe 2hr 06min loss on a windswept and chilly Suzanne Lenglen court saw Li undone by 37 unforced errorsMladenovic who was Australian Open mixed doubles champion this year with Daniel Nestor goes on to face Alison Riske of the United StatesIt didnt matter who I was playing today I still would have lost The problem was myself I threw myself away said LiIt is a familiar scenario for Li who failed to get beyind the fourth round of the six Grand Slams which followed her 2011 Roland Garros breakthroughI had no idea in my mind how to play the match The first match at a major is always tough the tension is different You never know what will happenMladenovic who was 36 in the world last August was in tears after her victory her third over a top 10 playerIts just incredible she said I dont have the words to describe what just happened To beat the world number two in the first round at Roland Garros its incredibleLis shock defeat means that both Australian Open champions have been knocked out in the first round after Stan Wawrinkas listless defeat on MondayLis loss to Mladenovic came around 16 hours after Wawrinka was dumped out by Guillermo GarciaLopez and it is the first time ever that the ignominious double has occurred Its also the first time that the reigning Grand Slam winners were ousted in the opening round of their next majorLi is also the first Australian Open womens champion to lose in the opening round in Paris since Lindsay Davenport 14 years agoThird seed Wawrinka stunnedUnheralded Spaniard Guillermo GarciaLopez caused the biggest shock of the French Open when he knocked out Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka 64 57 62 60 on MondaySwitzerlands StanislasWawrinkahits a return to Spains Guillermo GarciaLopez during their French tennis Open first round match at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris on Monday PicAFPThe Australian Open champion who was tipped as a possible champion in Paris struggled throughout in a mistakestrewn performance that saw him produce 61 unforced errorsGarciaLopez laid down the gauntlet from the outset by breaking twice and putting Wawrinka in an early hole by taking the first set in 36 minutesThe Swiss number one then had to dig deep to level the match when he broke at 65 up in the second despite firing an uncharacteristic 17 unforced errorsThe Spaniard remained unruffled however and broke the Wawrinka serve for the fourth time in the opening game of the third set to seize the momentum he never relinquishedWhen he wrapped it up 62 under fading light on a rainhit day the writing was on the wall for the Swiss starThe 29yearold was increasingly frustrated and out of sorts as GarciaLopez continued to dominate a match he never looked like losingWawrinka who has a reputation as a great five set player never got that far as he collapsed 60 in the decider to hand GarciaLopez arguably the finest win of his careerThe 30yearold who came into the tournament ranked 41 in the world can now look forward to a second round match against Frenchman Adrian MannarinoOther upsetsAlso making an early exit on Tuesday was Bulgarian mens 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov who lost 64 75 76 74 to giant Croat Ivo KarlovicKarlovic fired 22 aces and wasnt broken by Dimitrov who won the Bucharest claycourt title this spring and was a semifinalist at the Rome Masters having seen off the Croat on the wayIts never easy to play against Ivo Its a big disappointment for me losing first round of the tournament I liked my chances here said DimitrovThe 35yearold Karlovic whose last win in Paris was seven years ago has now equalled his best French Open performance and next faces either Daniel Brands of Germany or Austrias Andreas HaiderMaurerRomanian fourth seed Simona Halep reached the second round with a 60 62 win over Russias Alisa Kleybanova and next plays Heather Watson of BritainDateKrumm 43 beatenOther early winners were Svetlana Kuznetsova the Russian 27th seed and 2009 champion who beat Georgias Sofia Shapatava 63 61 while 43yearold Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan a semifinalist in 1995 lost 63 06 62 to Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova the 24th seedSpanish fifth seed David Ferrer last years runnerup to Rafael Nadal began his 12th Roland Garros by coasting past Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 64 63 61Ferrer 32 has reached the quarterfinals or better at his last nine majorsBritains Andy Murray the seventh seed starts against Andrey Golubev of KazakhstanMurray 27 the Wimbledon champion was a semifinalist in 2011 but skipped the 2013 tournament through injuryFormer womens champion Ana Ivanovic the Serb 11th seed plays French world number 43 Caroline GarciaExworld number one Caroline Wozniacki the 13th seeded Dane tackles Belgiums Yanina Wickmayer in her first outing since her romance with golfer Rory McIlroy endedA quarterfinalist in 2010 the 23yearold won her first six meetings against Wickmayer before the Belgian broke that streak in Doha this yearFormer mens world number one Lleyton Hewitt now at 46 in the world and playing his 14th Roland Garros was beaten 36 62 61 64 by unseeded Argentine Carlos BerlocqHewitt unleashed 56 winners but committed 53 unforced errorsHis fellow Australian Bernard Tomic now down at 80 in the world takes on French 12th seed Richard Gasquet who is chasing his 100th career win on clayTomic the world number 80 has yet to win a main tour claycourt match in 2014He had endured a rollercoaster year with a first round injuryhit exit at the Australian Open followed by double hip surgery and then a 28minute defeat to Jarkko Nieminen in Miami the shortest completed match in historyGerman 36yearold Tommy Haas the 16th seed can become the oldest man since Jimmy Connors in 1991 to reach the second round if he defeats Jurgen Zopp of Estonia