Li Na Upset in French Open; Serena and Sharapova Advance

Just as it is in the men’s draw, the defending Australian Open champion on the women’s side was bounced from the French Open in the first round.

China’s Li Na was upset by Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 on Tuesday, a day after the men’s Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka lost in his first-round matchup. Li won this grand slam back in 2011 and was the second-seeded player coming into the tournament behind American Serena Williams.

“Nobody said if you’re number two in the world that you have to win all the matches. I mean, this is tennis,” said Li. “I think [it] doesn’t matter who plays today against me, I’d always lose the match today, because I don’t think she put a lot of pressure [on] me. I think today I just gave it away.”

Li committed 39 unforced errors and didn’t have answers for Mladenovic. The French native was the aggressor all match, attacking the net and forcing the action which put Li back on her heels. She trailed 5-4 in the opening set, but used her net skills to hold off Li and steal the set 7-5.

Each time Li appeared to get herself back into the match, unforced errors pushed the momentum back to her opponent. After forcing a third and deciding set, Li double-faulted and had her serve broken, which opened the door for Mladenovic. She served out the rest of the set to cruise to a 6-1 third-set victory, and clinch the match for her third career victory over a top 10 opponent.

“I tried to get my forehand into play and attack her forehand whenever I could and it worked well,” said Mladenovic in front of her hometown crowd. “I’m really glad I could produce such good tennis in front of all these supporters.”

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova had no problems advancing into the second round as each of them cruised in their respective matches. The top-seeded Williams took care of France’s Alize Lim 6-2, 6-1 while Sharapova beat fellow Russian Ksenia Pervak 6-1, 6-2.

Fourth-seeded Simona Halep also advanced in her matchup with Alisa Kleybanova. The Romanian needed less than an hour to dispose of Kleybanova as she took the match in straight sets 6-0, 6-2.