Roland-Garros: Seeds fall on day two as Bencic stunned – Pliskova and Kvitova knocked out

Russian lucky loser Elina Avanesyan stunned Belinda Bencic, edging out the Swiss twelfth seed 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in an enthralling first-round encounter.

Bencic, only recently back from injury, struggled to deal with Avanesyan’s impressive display of shot-making variety in the first set. Avanesyan, ranked 134th in the world, will face French wildcard Leolia Jeanjean next.

Having steadied the ship in the second, taking that stanza in comfortable fashion, it was Bencic’s unforced error count that ultimately cost her in the third. The Swiss made a total of 49 unforced errors as she grappled with difficult and windy conditions.

Bencic was unable to put her finger on what exactly went wrong for her, in the immediate aftermath of the match.

“I don’t even know what to say, honestly, for the match. I mean, I was fighting with what I had, but I don’t think my level was anywhere where I wanted to be.”

But the Olympic champion remained philosophical regarding her return from injury was able to take the positives out of a display few had high expectations of.

“So it was a little bit frustrating, but I’m happy I’m back. I’m happy my leg survived. It didn’t hurt at all. That’s the positives, but I think I really need more weeks to get back to where I was and then more weeks to improve my level.”

“That’s the plan now to go back to the practice court and get ready again physically and also tennis-wise and then continue to the grass.”

Kvitova shocked by Cocciaretto

Kvitova, although more of a grass and hard-court specialist, will be bitterly disappointed to have been knocked out of the French Open at the first time of asking.

Despite rallying late in the second set, breaking her Italian opponent when she was serving for the set, ultimately the two-time Grand Slam was outplayed.

Cocciaretto, ranked No. 44, will play the winner of the match between Swiss qualifier Simona Waltert and American qualifier Elizabeth Mandlik next.

Pliskova knocked out by resurgent Sloan Stephens

Earlier in the day, there was another fallen seed when American Sloane Stephens – US Open champion in 2017, but unseeded this year at Roland-Garrso, beat Czech 16th seed Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-4.

Pliskova, a former world No 1, reached the semi-final of Roland-Garros in 2017, but since then has never got past the third round in Paris.

“Yeah, really happy with the way I have been playing. Been able to put a lot of matches together and a lot of wins, which is always good, good for the confidence”, said Stephens in her post-match press conference.

“Happy to have those coming in to here. And then obviously being able to beat Kaja [Pliskova] in the first round is a good feat.”

Paris (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Stade Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 49.600.000, most recent results first):

• Petra Martic vs. Shelby Rogers
• Erika Andreeva vs. Emma Navarro
• Victoria Azarenka vs. Bianca Andreescu
• Ylena In-Albon vs. Claire Liu
• Iga Swiatek vs. Cristina Bucsa
• Sorana Cirstea vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Clara Burel vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo
• Elena Rybakina vs. Brenda Fruhvirtova
• Selena Janicijevic vs. Oceane Dodin
• Linda Noskova vs. Danka Kovinic
• Rebeka Masarova vs. Coco Gauff
• Arantxa Rus vs. Julia Grabher
• Lesia Tsurenko vs. Barbora Krejcikova
• Lin Zhu vs. Lauren Davis
• Olga Danilovic vs. Kateryna Baindl
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Ons Jabeur
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Alison Riske-Amritraj
• Anhelina Kalinina vs. Diane Parry
• Xinyu Wang vs. Marie Bouzkova
• Rebecca Peterson vs. Fiona Ferro
• Petra Kvitova vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Tereza Martincova
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
• Tatjana Maria vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Nao Hibino vs. Anna-Lena Friedsam
• Anna Blinkova vs. Ysaline Bonaventure
• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Viktoriya Tomova
• Simona Waltert vs. Elizabeth Mandlik
• Caroline Garcia vs. Xiyu Wang: monday
• Peyton Stearns vs. Katerina Siniakova: monday
• Aliona Bolsova vs. Kristina Kucova: monday
• Elina Svitolina beat Martina Trevisan (26): 6-2, 6-2
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Maryna Zanevska: monday
• Varvara Gracheva beat Dalma Galfi: 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
• Diana Shnaider beat Rebecca Marino: 6-3, 7-5
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Alycia Parks: 6-4, 6-0
• Sloane Stephens beat Karolina Pliskova (16): 6-0, 6-4
• Camila Osorio (LL) beat Ana Bogdan: 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
• Madison Keys (20) beat Kaia Kanepi: 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Linda Fruhvirtova: 6-2, 6-2
• Donna Vekic (22) beat Dayana Yastremska (Q): 6-2, 7-5
• Bernarda Pera beat Anett Kontaveit: 7-6 (6), 6-2
• Kayla Day (Q) beat Kristina Mladenovic (WC): 7-5, 6-1
• Daria Kasatkina (9) beat Jule Niemeier: 6-3, 6-4
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Danielle Collins: 6-4, 6-2
• Liudmila Samsonova (15) beat Katie Volynets: 6-0, 6-1
• Irina-Camelia Begu (27) beat Anna Bondar: 6-4, 6-2
• Mayar Sherif beat Madison Brengle: 6-3, 6-1
• Sara Errani beat Jil Teichmann: 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Anastasia Potapova (24) beat Taylor Townsend (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Clara Tauson (Q) beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich: 6-2, 6-0
• Qinwen Zheng (19) beat Tamara Zidansek (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Camila Giorgi beat Alize Cornet: 6-3, 6-4
• Leolia Jeanjean beat Kimberly Birrell (WC): 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3
• Karolina Muchova beat Maria Sakkari (8): 7-6 (5), 7-5
• Leylah Fernandez beat Magda Linette (21): 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
• Elise Mertens (28) beat Viktoria Hruncakova (LL): 6-1, 6-4
• Kamilla Rakhimova beat Sara Bejlek (Q): 6-0, 6-3
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Marta Kostyuk: 6-3, 6-2
• Iryna Shymanovich (Q) beat Panna Udvardy: 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1
• Magdalena Frech beat Shuai Zhang (29): 6-1, 6-1
• Storm Hunter (Q) beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz: 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Nadia Podoroska beat Jessika Ponchet (WC): 6-0, 6-2