Tennis·ROUNDUP

Auger-Aliassime follows fellow Canadian Andreescu out of French Open in 1st round

Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal is out of the French Open after suffering a first-round loss. The No. 20 seed was defeated 6-3, 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-4 by Italian Andreas Seppi on Tuesday at the clay-court Grand Slam.

20th seed won only 2 of 12 break points against the 98th-ranked Andreas Seppi

Montreal's Felix Auger Aliassime plays a backhand against Andreas Seppi of Italy in his opening round match Tuesday at the French Open. The 98th-ranked Seppi prevailed 6-3, 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-4 at the clay-court Grand Slam. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime is out of the French Open after suffering a first-round loss.

The No. 20 seed, from Montreal, lost 6-3, 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-4 to Italian Andreas Seppi on Tuesday at the clay-court Grand Slam.

Auger-Aliassime won just two of 12 break points against the 98th-ranked Seppi.

The Canadian has now lost in the opening round of the French Open the past two years, his only appearances in the main draw of the tournament.

WATCH | Auger-Aliassime drops opening match to 98th-ranked Italian:

Auger-Aliassime eliminated in 1st round of French Open

4 years ago
Duration 1:53
Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime fell 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 to Italian Andreas Seppi at Roland Garros on Tuesday.

Auger-Aliassime became the second seeded Canadian to lose in as many days. No. 6 seed Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., lost her first-round match on Monday.

The result leaves just one Canadian, Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que., in the singles draws.

Later on, Novak Djokovic improved to 17-0 in first-round matches at Roland Garros by beating Tennys Sandgren 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in just under two hours on Tuesday night.

Djokovic saved all six break points he faced and compiled a total of 33 winners in the last match of the clay-court tournament's first round.

Kvitova hurts ankle, out of tourney

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova says on Instagram that she has pulled out of the French Open because of an ankle injury.

Kvitova says she fell and hurt her ankle during "post-match press requirements" after her first-round victory.

She calls it "incredibly bad luck" and hopes to recover in time for the grass-court season.

Wimbledon, the Grand Slam tournament she won in 2011 and 2014, begins June 28.

The 11th-seeded Kvitova saved a match point before coming back to beat Greet Minnen 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-1 on Sunday at Roland Garros. She was a semifinalist in Paris in 2012 and 2020.

Injured Barty avoids 1st-round exit

Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty overcame a strong challenge from Bernarda Pera to win her first match at Roland Garros since she claimed the 2019 French Open title.

Barty played with her left thigh bandaged and struggled before getting medical treatment at the start of the deciding set. Barty improved and eventually made the most of Pera's lack of consistency to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Barty says "I just keep fighting. I just keep trying."

Barty won in Paris two years ago and decided not to defend her title last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nadal keeps set streak intact in Paris

Rafael Nadal's bid for a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title has started with a straight-set victory at the French Open.

Nadal twice was a point from dropping the third set against Alexei Popyrin but eventually held on there and wound up winning the first-round match at Court Philippe Chatrier 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Nadal has now won 26 consecutive sets at Roland Garros dating to the 2019 final that he won.

He won last year's title at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament for his record-extending 13th trophy in Paris. That also allowed him to tie Roger Federer for the men's record with 20 major singles championships.

Suarez Navarro returns from cancer treatment

Carla Suarez Navarro has made her return to Grand Slam competition after being treated for cancer.

The 32-year-old from Spain left the tour last year after being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and announced in April that her chemotherapy treatments were done.

Suarez Navarro's first match back was in the French Open's first round on Tuesday.

She came close to victory before losing to Sloane Stephens 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 at Court Simonne Mathieu in a contest that lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours.

In other action Tuesday:

  • Seventh-seeded Andrey Rublev has lost in the first round, dropping a 6-3, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 3-6, 6-4 decision to Germany's player Jan-Lennard Struff. It's Rublev's earliest exit from the tourney since his 2017 debut.
  • Venus Williams was runner-up at Roland Garros against her sister Serena 19 years ago but has now lost her opening match at the clay-court major for the fourth year in a row. The American veteran's 24th appearance at the French Open ended in a 6-3, 6-1 defeat against Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia.

WATCH | Osaka pulls out of French Open citing battle with depression, anxiety:

Naomi Osaka pulls out of French Open citing mental health concerns

4 years ago
Duration 1:58
Tennis star Naomi Osaka has pulled out of the French Open citing an ongoing battle with depression and social anxiety. Osaka had previously said she wouldn’t do any press conferences during the tournament because of mental health concerns.

With files from The Associated Press

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