Monday was busy as the R1 ties in this year’s French Open continued. There were predictably a few surprising results – including early exits for Felix Auger-Aliassime, Olympic champion Belinda Bencic and two-time semifinalist Petra Kvitova. As for the Brits, Jack Draper’s injury woes sadly continued before Cameron Norrie was composed to fend off a motivated Benoit Paire in five sets.
Same old story for some…
Avanesyan [LL] bt. Bencic [12] 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
Maybe I jinxed her yesterday, after pointing out it was the Belinda Bencic section. As the highest seed left after Maria Sakkari’s early exit, it proved an observation quickly ageing poorly for the Swiss as shge was bested by a 20-year-old lucky loser.
Russia’s Elina Avanesyan, who lost a painful ten-point tiebreak in the final qualifying round against 23-year-old American Kayla Day last Thursday, pounced on the Olympic champion’s error-prone start (19 unforced errors, three double-faults).
Since writing the piece hyperlinked above in August 2021, specifically asking whether Bencic could translate her Tokyo triumph to more tangible success on the WTA tour, the 26-year-old has largely flattered to deceive. Tough days like these show why.
What makes this defeat even more painful? She led 4-2 and 15-0 in the deciding set at one stage, seven points away from a hard-fought victory.
Perhaps the seeds were sown in the previous game, needing four break points to pounce, but mistakes spilled just as quickly as some sharp play was on show.
Passivity during rallies helped Avanesyan hit freely and before you knew it, they were level at four games apiece. Exasperation was etched across her face as two cheap unforced errors and a double-fault gifted triple break point – she saved all three.
Yet Avanesyan kept making Bencic play an extra shot or three during rallies and soon enough, earned her reward by a combination of timely winners and scrambled decision-making up the other end. She’ll play French wildcard Leolia Jeanjean next.
Petra Kvitova, who made the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2020, has only surpassed round three at a Major twice in ten appearances since. Make that eleven, after another early exit against Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
The 22-year-old, into the tournament’s main draw for the second time as a six-year pro, hit 15 winners and 21 unforced errors en route to a 6-3, 6-4 victory on an evening where neither woman served particularly well with 12 double-faults between them.
Kvitova’s 31 unforced errors were ultimately too much, though the Czech certainly had chances in a topsy-turvy second set to rally back from 3-0 down.
… While it’s all smiles for others
Another lucky loser, Colombia’s Camila Osorio, recovered from a set down to outlast Ana Bogdan 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to punch her ticket into what could be an unpredictable second-round clash against 28th seed Elise Mertens.
The Belgian dropped five games against Slovakian lucky loser Viktoria Hruncakova (6-1, 6-4) during a real tale of two sets on Sunday afternoon.
Elsewhere in that section, it’s an all-Russian battle between Liudmila Samsonova [15] and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova [PR] after the latter’s 6-2, 6-2 win against Czech teenage talent Linda Fruhvirtova – given another chastening defeat on the world stage.
The 18-year-old is now on a four-match losing streak, and served more double-faults (11) than she recorded winners (8) against an experienced veteran who reached the final at this tournament two years ago before taking a break from the sport in 2022.
World no. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and 22-time Major champion Novak Djokovic won comfy against Flavio Cobolli (6-0, 6-2, 7-5) and Aleksandar Kovacevic (6-3, 6-2, 7-6) respectively, though their lower-ranked opponents gave them stern resistance late.
As mentioned in the introduction, Cameron Norrie held his nerve and was able to wrestle back momentum as Britain’s last-standing representative across both draws.
Jack Draper (shoulder) retired early in set two against Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry, having struggled to serve late in the previous set and having medical treatment at the changeover which didn’t remedy his latest injury issue.
Felix Auger-Aliassime [10] hasn’t set the world alight with recent form but was alarmingly below-par and duly punished by Fabio Fognini, who beat him in straight sets (6-4, 6-4, 6-3) as the Italian veteran probably couldn’t believe his luck.
41 unforced errors, eight double-faults and just 62% first serve percentage for a top-10 player whose serve plus one pattern is almost unrivalled on tour? Not good enough: he’s lost in the first two rounds at three of the last four Majors now.
What’s next?
Day 3: Matches to watch out for
ATP
Tommy Paul [16] vs. Dominic Stricker [LL]
Hugo Gaston [WC] vs. Alex Molcan
Alexander Zverev [22] vs. Lloyd Harris
Michael Mmoh vs. Taylor Fritz [9]
Gael Monfils vs. Sebastian Baez
WTA
Mirra Andreeva vs. Alison Riske-Amritraj
Lucia Bronzetti vs. Ons Jabeur
Linda Noskova vs. Danka Kovinic
Elena Rybakina [4] vs. Brenda Fruhvirtova [Q]
Victoria Azarenka [18] vs. Bianca Andreescu
Picture source: Getty Images
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