Roland-Garros: Cornet ends career with straight sets loss to Zheng in front of home crowd

Over the past few days, Austria’s Dominic Thiem and Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman have bid farewell to Paris. Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray may have played their final French Open too.

And on Tuesday, the theme of goodbyes at Roland-Garros continued with France’s Alize Cornet bowing out in her final tournament as a professional.

China’s Qinwen Zheng, the No 7 seed, defeated Cornet, who received a wildcard entry, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the second round of Roland-Garros in Paris.

With this, the 34-year-old Cornet ends a run of 69 consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearances – an all-time record in men’s or women’s tennis.

Following the match, an on-court ceremony on Court Philippe Chatrier was held to celebrate the career of Cornet, who peaked at No 11 in the world rankings and won six WTA singles titles, besides being part of the French Billie Jean King Cup and Hopman Cup winning teams.

Zheng, ranked No 8 and a finalist at the Australian Open in January, will face the winner of the match between American Ashlyn Krueger and German Tamara Korpatsch in the second round.

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Paris (Grand Slam), other first-round matches (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 53,478,000):

• Elena Rybakina (4) beat Greet Minnen: 6-2, 6-3
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (13): 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
• Bernarda Pera beat Nao Hibino: 6-2, 6-0
• Ana Bogdan beat Elsa Jacquemot (WC): 6-1, 6-3
• Irina-Camelia Begu beat Julia Riera (Q): 6-2, 6-2
• Cristina Bucsa beat Yulia Starodubtseva (Q): 6-4, 6-1
• Diane Parry beat Fiona Ferro (WC): 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Linda Noskova (27) beat Harriet Dart: 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Varvara Gracheva beat Maria Sakkari (6): 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Bianca Andreescu beat Sara Sorribes Tormo: 7-5, 6-1
• Elina Svitolina (15) beat Karolina Pliskova: 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Camila Osorio beat Anhelina Kalinina: 3-6, 7-6 (2), 4-1 ret.
• Anna Kalinskaya (23) beat Clara Burel: 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (20) beat Panna Udvardy (LL): 6-3, 6-4
• Danielle Collins (11) beat Caroline Dolehide: 6-3, 6-4
• Leylah Fernandez (31) beat Jessika Ponchet (WC): 6-2, 6-0
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Julia Avdeeva (Q): 6-1, 6-1
• Viktoriya Tomova beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (16): 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Leolia Jeanjean (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Ons Jabeur (8) beat Sachia Vickery (WC): 6-3, 6-2
• Jasmine Paolini (12) beat Daria Saville: 6-3, 6-4
• Hailey Baptiste (LL) beat Kayla Day: 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
• Liudmila Samsonova (17) beat Magda Linette: 6-1, 6-1
• Marketa Vondrousova (5) beat Rebeka Masarova: 6-1, 6-3
• Anastasia Potapova beat Kamilla Rakhimova: 6-2, 6-3
• Katie Volynets (Q) beat Aleksandra Krunic: 7-6 (4), 6-2
• Olga Danilovic (Q) beat Martina Trevisan: 6-1, 6-2
• Xinyu Wang beat Jule Niemeier (Q): 0-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Viktorija Golubic beat Barbora Krejcikova (24): 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Tamara Zidansek (Q) beat Alison Van Uytvanck: 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
• Clara Tauson beat Tatjana Maria: 6-2, 6-3
• Chloe Paquet (WC) beat Diana Shnaider: 6-3, 6-1
• Xiyu Wang beat Zhuoxuan Bai: 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3
• Amanda Anisimova beat Rebecca Sramkova (Q): 7-6 (6), 6-4
• Caroline Garcia (21) beat Eva Lys (Q): 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Katerina Siniakova (32) beat Dalma Galfi (LL): 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Sofia Kenin beat Laura Siegemund: 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
• Jelena Ostapenko (9) beat Jaqueline Cristian: 6-4, 7-5
• Jana Fett (LL) beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro: 6-2, 3-6, 7-5
• Marta Kostyuk (18) beat Laura Pigossi (Q): 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4
• Naomi Osaka beat Lucia Bronzetti: 6-1, 4-6, 7-5
• Dayana Yastremska (30) beat Ajla Tomljanovic (WC): 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Yafan Wang beat Maria Timofeeva: 6-3, 6-3
• Marie Bouzkova beat Veronika Kudermetova (29): 6-2, 6-4
• Donna Vekic beat Lesia Tsurenko: 6-5 ret.
• Irene Burillo Escorihuela vs. Moyuka Uchijima
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Sloane Stephens
• Katie Boulter vs. Paula Badosa
• Victoria Azarenka vs. Nadia Podoroska
• Zeynep Sonmez vs. Emma Navarro
• Sara Errani vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Emina Bektas
• Erika Andreeva vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Madison Keys vs. Renata Zarazua
• Arantxa Rus vs. Angelique Kerber
• Lucija Ciric Bagaric vs. Peyton Stearns
• Yue Yuan vs. Mayar Sherif
• Magdalena Frech vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Petra Martic vs. Kristina Mladenovic
• Elise Mertens vs. Maria Lourdes Carle
• Anna Blinkova vs. Sorana Cirstea
• Lin Zhu vs. Elina Avanesyan
• Ashlyn Krueger vs. Tamara Korpatsch