Paris, May 27 (IANS) Former World No.1 Venus Williams became the first seed to crash out of the French Open as she was upset by Urszula Radwanska of Poland in the first round here.
The American, seeded 30th, and the 37th-ranked Pole traded errors, winners and breaks to neutral effect, until at last Radwanska emerged the 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 victor after three hours and 19 minutes, reports Xinhua.
These two had met only once before when Radwanska was just 15. Now 22, Urszula’s best result this year was reaching the fourth round at Indian Wells while 2013 has been blighted for 32-year-old Venus by a recurring back injury.
By contrast, Venus’ younger sister Serena won her match in style, demolishing Anna Tatishvili in the first round. The 15-time Grand Slam champion defeated the 83rd-ranked Tatishvili 6-0, 6-1 in just 51 minutes, serving eight aces and having 27 outright winners in a totally one-sided match.
Second seed Roger Federer of Switzerland opened his campaign by breezing past qualifier Pablo Carreno-Busta in straight sets. The 17-time Grand Slam champion crushed the World No.166 Carreno-Busta 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
The 21-year-old Spaniard is playing at Roland Garros for the first time after plying his trade on the ITF Futures circuit where he has experienced just one defeat in 39 matches this year. The match lasted only 80 minutes.
“I thought it was a good match for me,” said Federer, who will play India’s Somdev Devvarman in the second round.
“He’s played that many matches and won a lot this year – that really helps your confidence – and he’s played a lot of matches on clay, in comparison with me. I knew it could be tricky if I don’t sustain a certain level of play and certain aggressiveness, get caught up maybe in long rallies, maybe what he’s looking for.”
David Ferrer lived up to his No.4 seeding, seeing off a brave challenge from Australia’s Marinko Matosevic to record a straight-sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win.
In the past 12 months he has recorded a number of firsts – making the semifinals here 50 weeks ago, winning his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title and coming within a point and a challenged line-call of beating Andy Murray in the Miami final.
He brought his 519th career win against Matosevic, who was playing his first Grand Slam tie.
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