Sport

Stan Wawrinka crashes out of French Open at first hurdle

Spian’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beats Australian Open champion at Roland Garros

Maria Sharapova of Russia hits a return to compatriot Ksenia Pervak during their women’s first-round match at the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
Maria Sharapova of Russia hits a return to compatriot Ksenia Pervak during their women’s first-round match at the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
Mon May 26 2014 - 20:59

Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka was knocked out in the first round of the French Open by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain on Monday.

Garcia-Lopez won 6-4 5-7 6-2 6-0 against the third-seeded Swiss on the Philippe Chatrier show court.

Wawrinka led 3-1 in the first set before losing it on the Spaniard’s first set point by hitting long. He pulled level in the second set but he made 62 unforced errors on a heavy clay surface in Paris.

Garcia-Lopez, ranked 41 in the world, cruised through the fourth set against an increasingly despondent Wawrinka.

READ MORE

There had already been a shock in the men’s draw as ninth seed Kei Nishikori was beaten in straight sets by Martin Klizan.

The Japanese player is one of the rising stars of the game and already has two titles to his name this season.

That looked set to become three when he led Rafael Nadal by a set and a break in the final of the Madrid Open earlier this month.

But a back injury eventually forced him to retire in the third set and Nishikori’s presence at Roland Garros had been in doubt after he pulled out of the Rome Masters.

He told Japanese reporters he would not have come to Paris for any other tournament than a Grand Slam and he cut a forlorn figure in his 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 6-2 defeat by Slovakian Klizan.

World No 1 Rafa Nadal started his title defence in ruthless fashion, dismantling American Robby Ginepri 6-0 6-3 6-0 to reach the second round.

The eight-times champion from Spain wasted no time to set up a meeting with rising Austrian Dominic Thiem who dismissed France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu with ease.

Nadal used his whipping forehand to shake world number 279 Ginepri who needed a wildcard into the tournament.

Unlike last year when Nadal flirted with danger against Germany’s Daniel Brands in the first round, he was a class apart from Ginepri.

The sun pierced the clouds midway through the third set as Nadal wasted two match points, ending the match on his third attempt when Ginepri’s backhand sailed long.

Maria Sharapova eased into the second round of the French Open with a 6-1 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Ksenia Pervak.

Rain in Paris held up play for an hour, and that was almost exactly the time it took Sharapova to dispatch Pervak on a damp Court Philippe Chatrier.

The 27-year-old has grown to really like clay and, until she lost to Ana Ivanovic in Rome, she had not been beaten by anyone on the surface except Serena Williams since the French Open in 2011.

Williams was the player who ended Sharapova’s hopes of retaining her title 12 months ago with victory in the final, and they could meet again in the quarter-finals this time.

Qualifier Pervak was never likely to trouble the seventh seed and she did not hold her serve during the first set.

Pervak managed to end that sequence at the start of the second but Sharapova then reeled off five games in a row and wasted no time clinching victory.

In the second round, Sharapova will play Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova, who is much more at home on a grass court.

FRENCH OPEN RESULTS Men’s singles first round (1) Rafa Nadal (Spain) beat Robby Ginepri (USA) 6-0 6-3 6-0 (2) Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Joao Sousa (Portugal) 6-1 6-2 6-4 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) beat (3) Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6-4 5-7 6-2 6-0 Martin Klizan (Slovakia) beat (9) Kei Nishikori (Japan) 7-6 (4) 6-1 6-2 (14) Fabio Fognini (Italy) beat Andreas Beck (Germany) 6-4 6-4 6-1 (17) Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat James Ward (Britain) 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-4 (18) Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) beat Lukasz Kubot (Poland) 4-6 6-4 7-5 6-1 (25) Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat Pablo Andujar (Spain) 6-0 6-3 7-6 (6) (26) Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 6-3 7-6 (8) 6-3 (27) Roberto Bautista (Spain) beat Paolo Lorenzi (Italy) 6-3 7-5 6-2 (29) Gilles Simon (France) beat Ante Pavic (Croatia) 6-1 6-1 6-3 Adrian Mannarino (France) beat Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) 6-2 6-1 6-1 Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) beat Benjamin Becker (Germany) 6-2 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-2 Alejandro Gonzalez (Colombia) beat Michael Russell (USA) 6-2 6-4 6-7 (6) 6-1 Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia) beat (30) Vasek Pospisil (Canada) 6-4 6-2 6-3 Jurgen Melzer (Austria) beat David Goffin (Belgium) 6-4 5-7 7-5 6-4 Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan) beat Nicolas Mahut (France) 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3 6-4 Tobias Kamke (Germany) beat Miloslav Mecir Jr (Slovakia) 7-5 7-6 (2) 7-6 (1) Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) beat Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) 6-2 7-6 (6) 7-5 Marcel Granollers (Spain) beat Ivan Dodig (Croatia) 2-2 (Dodig retired) Robin Haase (Netherlands) beat Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 7-5 6-4 6-2 Benoit Paire (France) beat Alejandro Falla (Colombia) 6-3 6-4 7-6 (4) Kenny De Schepper (France) beat Albert Montanes (Spain) 3-1 (Montanes retired) Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) beat James Duckworth (Australia) 5-7 6-2 6-4 7-6 (2) Donald Young (USA) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-1 2-6 6-1 6-0 Dominic Thiem (Austria) beat Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 6-4 7-6 (3) 6-2 Facundo Bagnis (Argentina) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 6-1 6-2 1-6 3-6 18-16

Women’s singles first round: ( 5) Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) 7-5 6-2 (7) Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Ksenia Pervak (Russia) 6-1 6-2 (9) Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) beat Virginie Razzano (France) 7-5 6-0 (12) Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (Austria) 6-2 6-2 (16) Sabine Lisicki (Germany) beat Fiona Ferro (France) 6-1 7-5 Pauline Parmentier (France) beat (17) Roberta Vinci (Italy) 3-6 6-3 6-2 (18) Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) beat Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-0 6-2 (19) Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) 6-1 6-1 (20) Alize Cornet (France) beat Ashleigh Barty (Australia) 6-2 6-1 (28) Andrea Petkovic (Germany) beat Misaki Doi (Japan) 6-3 6-3 (32) Elena Vesnina (Russia) beat Christina Mchale (USA) 7-6(0) 4-6 6-3 Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) beat Anna-Lena Friedsam (Germany) 6-7(3) 7-5 6-2 Paula Ormaechea (Argentina) beat Romina Oprandi (Switzerland) 7-5 6-2 Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) beat Lauren Davis (USA) 3-6 7-5 6-4 Tamira Paszek (Austria) beat Alison Van Uytvanck (Belgium) 6-2 7-6(5) Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) beat Maryna Zanevska (Ukraine) 6-1 6-4 Mona Barthel (Germany) beat Karin Knapp (Italy) 6-4 6-0 Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) beat Nadiya Kichenok (Ukraine) 6-2 6-1 Taylor Townsend (USA) beat Vania King (USA) 7-5 6-1 Kurumi Nara (Japan) beat Anna Tatishvili (USA) 6-1 6-4 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) beat Mathilde Johansson (France) 6-1 7-6 (5) Julia Goerges (Germany) beat Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) 6-2 6-3