Angelique Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova are two Grand Slam champions that suffered upsets in the first round of the French Open on Monday. Last year’s runner-up Marketa Vondrousova also waved goodbye on Day 2.
Roland Garros is the only major that Angelique Kerber hasn’t won and now she’s fallen at the opening hurdle in Paris four times in the last five years as Kaja Juvan of Slovenia defeated her 6-3 6-3 in just 67 minutes. The 19-year-old Juvan made Grand Slam debut at the French Open as a lucky loser in 2019 and today the world No.102 upset the 18th seed to claim her first main-draw victory at the tournament.
Seed No.28 Svetlana Kuznetsova, one of five former champions in the draw, fell to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in an all-Russian battle 6-1 2-6 6-1. The 2009 French Open winner Kuznetsova was hoping to win her first match in Paris since 2017, but instead she lost to Pavlyuchenkova on clay for the first time, having defeated her in their only previous meeting on clay, four years ago at Roland Garros.
Polish teenager Iga Swiatek knocked out last year’s finalist Marketa Vondrousova 6-1 6-2 in just 63 minutes, knowing what the Czech’s strengths are and minimizing her opportunities to use them by playing tactically smart.
