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French Open begins with exit for Kerber

The 2017 edition of the French Open at Roland Garros tennis complex in western Paris opened in stifling heat on Sunday, with Angelique Kerber from Germany being the first-ever top seed to fall at round one of the tournament, which will last until June 11th.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Germany's Angelique Kerber became the first top seed in French Open history to lose in the opening round when she was knocked out by Russia's Ekaterina Makarova, 6-2, 6-2, on Sunday, reports ABS-CBN News.

Before this year, the earliest exits suffered by a top seed were in the second round - Justine Henin in 2004 and Serena Williams in 2014.

Makarova goes on to face either Lesia Tsurenko or Kateryna Kozlova, both of the Ukraine.

"It's unbelievable to win and to do it on my first appearance on Philippe Chatrier court as a singles player after nine years of coming to Paris," said Makarova, a former semi-finalist at the Australian and US Opens.

"At the end of the match, it was really tough as I knew she wouldn't give it to me - I had to win it."

It was the second successive first round exit at Roland Garros for world number one Kerber, the reigning US Open champion.

Last year, she fell to unseeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.

It also continued a miserable spell for the German 29-year-old on clay this year.

She lost her opener in Stuttgart where she was the defending champion, suffered a thigh injury in the third round in Madrid and lost first time out in Rome.

Read more of this report from ABS-CBN News.