Defending champion Jelena Ostapenko and seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams went out of Roland Garros on the first day of main draw play on Sunday.
After becoming an absolute surprise champion last year, world No.5 Jelena Ostapenko became the first French Open defending champion in 13 years to lose in the first round.
The upset happened at the hands of Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova, ranked 67th in the world, who is now actually 3-0 head-to-head against Ostapenko, but this is her first Top 30 victory in career. Wearing Adidas’ coral tank with extraordinary pleated overlay, Ostapenko committed 48 unforced errors, including 13 double faults, helping Kozlova to make a major dent in the draw with a 7-5 6-3 triumph.
On Court Suzanne Lenglen, world No.91 Wang Qiang of China stunned ninth seed Venus Williams, a finalist at the French Open in 2002 and player that beat her last year in Paris in the first round. Notice Wang’s respect for Williams in their net handshake. Very humble and beautiful.
I’m so glad Venus wore the Incline Dress from her EleVen Sprint collection. Look how stunning the tango red contrast floating back bra panel looks on the American and against the orange clay. Luckily, this is not the end of Venus’ competition at this Grand Slam, as she’s set to compete in the doubles alongside sister Serena.
Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 champion who went all the way through qualifying this time, lost her main-draw opener to Viktoria Kuzmova after two tiebreaks, while former French Open runner-up Sara Errani fell to Lotto-clad Alize Cornet 2-6 6-2 6-3, who was cleared of a doping charge by an independent tribunal earlier this May.
Seed No.22 Johanna Konta today lost to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-4 6-3, so after four main-draw appearances at the French Open, the Brit is yet to win a match in Paris. Earlier on Sunday, Elina Svitolina avoided a major upset by recovering from 1-5 in the opening set to beat Ajla Tomljanovic.
