French Open Day 1 highlights: Venus and Ostapenko exit as Dimitrov begins with win

The second Grand Slam of the year kicked off in Paris on Sunday with Grigor Dimitrov, Venus Williams and Jelena Ostapenko all in action on the day one. It was a mixed day at Roland Garros with Ostapenko and Venus being knocked out in the first round itself. Here is a wrap of the day’s event.

Champion Ostapenko out in first round

Latvia’s fifth seed Jelena Ostapenko became only the second defending champion to lose in the first round of Roland Garros when she slumped to a shock 7-5, 6-3 defeat by Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine on Sunday.

Russia’s Anastasia Myskina was the only other defending champion to lose in the first round in the Open era in 2005. Kozlova, the world number 66, will face either former world number one Victoria Azarenka or Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic for a place in the last 32.

Dimitrov downs Egyptian mystery man

Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov reached the French Open second round on Sunday, even if he wasn’t exactly sure who he was facing. Dimitrov had been drawn to face experienced Viktor Troicki in the tournament opener on Philippe Chatrier Court.

However, just before he was due to go on court, Troicki withdrew with a back injury, allowing Egyptian world number 182 Mohamed Safwat to make his Grand Slam debut. In the process, he became the first Egyptian since Tamer El Sawy at the 1996 US Open to feature in a major.

“I was warming up and my coach said, ‘hey look’ and we saw up on the board that I was playing a different opponent,” said 27-year-old Dimitrov after his 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) win. “I didn’t expect that.”

Kyrgios withdraws

Nick Kyrgios was forced to withdraw after failing to recover from an elbow injury, saying a potential five sets on clay was “too risky”.

The 23-year-old was seeded 21 and was due to play compatriot Bernard Tomic in the first round. The enigmatic Kyrgios has not played a singles match since a quarter-final loss to Ivo Karlovic at the US Clay Court Championships in April. “Having consulted with my team and medical experts it is deemed too risky for me to step out and potentially play five sets on clay, especially as I have not played a singles match in nearly two months,” Kyrgios wrote on Twitter.

Kyrgios’s withdrawal meant that eight places in the first round were opened up to lucky losers.

Nick Kyrgios’s decision to pull out of the event with an elbow injury meant that there were spots for eight lucky losers in the first round. This year the Grand Slam rules changed to allow injured players to forfeit but still collect half the prize money with the other half going to the lucky loser.

Venus shocked

Former world number one Venus Williams suffered a shock defeat by Chinese player Wang Qiang in the French Open first round on Sunday. The 37-year-old ninth seed was well short of her best as Wang claimed a 6-4, 7-5 victory and gained a measure of revenge for her first-round loss to Venus at Roland Garros last year.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion has now lost both her matches at major tournaments this year, having reached the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals in 2017. World number nine Venus will now turn her attention to playing the doubles tournament with her sister Serena, who is competing in a Grand Slam event for the first time since last year’s Australian Open after giving birth to her daughter.

Snapshot: Hats off to Roland Garros

From the sidelines

Wedding, what wedding?

Venus Williams was knocked out in the first round by China’s Wang Qiang and then deflected questions of the Royal Wedding which sister Serena attended.

“Honestly, I was at practice, so I didn’t see the wedding. I did see her Instagram, though. That’s kind of as much as I was exposed to it. I thought she looked great,” said Venus in reference to Serena, not Meghan Markle!

Road trip

Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti, who lost in qualifying, had to perform a quick about-turn when he arrived in Barcelona after hearing he could be in line for a French Open reprieve as a lucky loser. A slot opened up when Nick Kyrgios withdrew with an elbow injury leaving Trungelliti to face a nine-hour drive over 1,000km back to Paris to make the sign-in deadline for the first round where he’d play Australia’s Bernard Tomic.

However, it was India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran who was next in line to play after Kyrgios’s exit. But, the world No 183 had left Paris already, to play in a Challenger tournament in Vicenza.

Quotable quotes

“It was a very bad day at the office...I was really pissed off.”

Jelena Ostapenko after becoming only the second defending champion to lose in the first round at Roland Garros, going down in straight sets to Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine.

“Like, 10 is way different than 11. So I was like, Okay, once I finally get there, it’s fine. But then I got there and I was like, Okay, like, what happens now? Nothing. It means nothing. Really, it literally means nothing. So it’s cool, and it’s just something that I’ll be able to tell my kids or someone I coach one day or whatever. But in actuality, it’s, like, I’m a decent tennis player. I’m pretty good. But just being able to say I was in the top 10, like, all right. It’s nice. It has a nice ring to it.”

Sloane Stephens going to great lengths to get a perspective on her ranking.

“We have known each other for so long. It was, just, It’s nice to see you. It’s nice to play someone you know for such a long time.”

Grigor Dimitrov on his warm embrace with Mohamed Safwat at the net.

“Unfortunately, I was preparing, but I was watching online the score. And it was a pity what happened. I mean, I hope that he really gets well very soon for the World Cup.”

Safwat on his hopes for a fit Mohamed Salah at the World Cup even if he was unable to watch the Champions League final in which his Egyptian compatriot was injured.

Numbers up

113: The combined age of Ivo Karlovic (39), Venus Williams and Francesca Schiavone (both 37) who were all in action – and lost – on Sunday.

17: The number on the back of Slovakian Jozef Kovalik’s football-style shirt as he lost to Pablo Carreno Busta.

36: The amount of centimetres in height Karlovic has on his 19-year-old French opponent Corentin Moutet, who beat the towering Croatian in straight sets.

48: Unforced errors from Ostapenko in her loss to Kozlova