World No 1 and top seed bounced by upstart Russian

PARIS - Germany's Angelique Kerber has not been playing anything like a world No 1 this season, and on Sunday she became the first top-seeded woman in the professional era to lose in the opening round of the French Open.

Kerber, who ended Serena Williams' long reign atop the WTA rankings last year, was gone from Roland Garros by lunchtime on Day 1, putting up little resistance while being beaten 6-2, 6-2 by 40th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.

"That's really unbelievable," Makarova said when informed of the history made by her victory.

Kerber won the Australian Open and the US Open, and was the Wimbledon runner-up, in 2016, but this year has been one long struggle for the German, who has a 19-13 record, losing four of her past six matches.

Her strokes were off all match against Makarova, who has reached two major semi-finals but has never been past the fourth round in Paris.

Makarova even pointed out that she never before had played a singles match in the tournament's main stadium.

Kerber had only four winners and 12 unforced errors in the first set and didn't even earn a break point until the last game, which Makarova won, anyway.

Makarova then raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set.

Kerber showed some signs of getting into the match, smacking a cross-court forehand passing winner, leaning forward and yelling as she took a game to get within 3-1.

But that was about it.

In the last game, Kerber had seven break points, but Makarova fought off each one before holding to win.

"It was really tough; she's a No 1 and she's a great player and I knew that I had to win it because she was not going to miss," Makarova said.

"I was also fighting with my emotions."

In the preceding match on Court Philippe Chatrier, Petra Kvitova was back competing in a tournament, less than six months after a knife attack at her home.

Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, had very little trouble in her return, beating 86th-ranked Julia Boserup of the US 6-3, 6-2 in just 74 minutes.

"I think it doesn't really matter how I played, but I won," Kvitova said.

Indeed, just being there under a cloud-filled sky at Roland Garros was a victory for Kvitova, who needed surgery on her left hand - the one she holds her racket with - after being stabbed by an intruder in the Czech Republic in late December.

She was undecided until late last week whether to even try to play in the French Open.

"It's a pleasure to be here; I'm really glad that we made this decision to come to Paris," Kvitova told the crowd during an on-court interview.

Then, addressing her guest box, which included her parents and brother, she said: "Thank you for everything ... you helped me through this very difficult time."

Several members of Kvitova's entourage wore black T-shirts with white capital letters on the front that read, "Courage. Belief. Pojd." The last word, which is the Czech equivalent of "Come on!" and was spelled on the shirts with a red heart instead of the "o", is often yelled by Kvitova to celebrate good shots.

In one other early result of significance, 2015 US Open runner-up Roberta Vinci exited Roland Garros in the first round for the fourth year in a row.

The 31st-seeded Vinci, most famous for ending Williams' hopes of a calendar year grand slam by beating her in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows in 2015, lost to Rio Olympics gold medalist Monica Puig 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Meanwhile, three weeks shy of her 37th birthday, Venus Williams, who made her debut in the French capital in 1997, kicked off her latest campaign with a 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over China's Wang Qiang.

Williams, seeded 10th, has played every year since 1997 with the exception of 2011 and despite her senior citizen status, she is still a contender at the Slams as her run to the Australian Open final in January proved.

Her staggering longevity is illustrated by the fact that her second-round opponent is compatriot Amanda Anisimova who, at just 15, is the youngest main draw competitor since 2005.

To put that in perspective, when Venus was losing the 2002 Roland Garros final to Serena, Anisimova was just nine months old.

Associated Press