Top Seed Kerber Falls in French Open's First Round

Published on 28-May-2017 by Alan Adamsson

Tennis    Tennis Daily Update

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Top Seed Kerber Falls in French Open's First Round

That's a catchy headline, but really, this was -- pardon the expression ... or don't -- a bitch draw for Angelique Kerber.

Russian Ekaterina Makarova is a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist who's made a good living by just bubbling under the game's marquée names and occasionally rising up to dump a few of them.

So it's just as stunning a player of her caliber was paired against the French Open's top seed in the first round.

Not only that, clay isn't exactly the German's favorite surface.

She lost in the opening round at Roland Garros Stadium last year, too.

Thus, while this result made history ...

No 1 seeds to lose in first round

... it wasn't exactly a surprise.

Frankly, match point was an accurate encapsulation of the proceedings. Both are baseline players girded for long volleys, but Kerber just couldn't set them in her favor, even when she was serving.

In fact, the soon to be ex-World No 1 only won four games. It ended 6-2, 6-2.

As if it wasn't already, the French Open is now just that. Wide open.

  • Could 37-year-old Venus Williams defy time and the clay to weave through the bracket?
  • Could the event's feelgood entrant -- Czech Petra Kvitova -- come back from suffering a stabbed hand during a home invasion?

Right now, she's the poster child for this year's tournament.

Anything;'s possible.