Former champion Wawrinka out of French Open

Associated PressMay 28, 2018, 10:45 AM EDT

PARIS (AP) The Latest on the French Open, the year’s second Grand Slam tennis tournament (all times local):

2:50 p.m.

Another former French Open champion has exited the tournament in the first round as Stan Wawrinka lost a five-set battle with Guillermo Garcia Lopez of Spain.

Looking a shadow of the player who won the title in Paris three years ago, Wawrinka struggled with his serve and hit an awful lot of unforced errors (72) in his 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 loss.

Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam winner who was runner-up in Roland Garros last year, has been hampered by knee problems that forced him to miss three months of the season.

He had won just one match on clay heading to the French Open and entered the tournament at No. 30, his worse ranking since 2008.

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2:30 p.m.

The road trip was worth it for Marco Trungelliti, the “lucky loser” who drove for about 9 hours with his brother, mother and grandmother from Barcelona to Paris in order to get into the French Open – and then won his match.

Trungelliti, a 28-year-old Argentine ranked 190th, lost in qualifying at Roland Garros and then headed home to Spain.

But when an eighth spot in the main draw opened up because of an injury withdrawal, Trungelliti raced back to France. He faced Bernard Tomic in the first round on Monday and emerged with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory in a match that lasted nearly 3 hours.

This was only the third tour-level match of the year for Trungelliti and the 16th of his career. He is now 4-3 in Grand Slam action.

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1:30 p.m.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is through to the French Open second round after defeating Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.

The No. 8-seeded Czech needed 2 hours, 7 minutes to overcome her 87th-ranked opponent on the Philippe-Chatrier showcourt on Monday.

Kvitova’s best run in Paris was to the semifinals in 2012. She bowed out in the second round last year, making her Grand Slam return after an assailant attacked her with a knife at her home in December 2016, requiring extensive surgery to her left hand, her playing hand.

Royg had reached the fourth round at Roland Garros last year.

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1:05 p.m.

Former top-ranked player Victoria Azarenka has bowed out of the French Open in the first round, beaten 7-5, 7-5 by Katerina Siniakova.

Azarenka, a semifinalist in Paris five years ago, is currently ranked 84th after giving birth to a son in December 2016.

After a poor clay-court campaign punctuated by early exits in Madrid and Rome, the two-time Grand Slam champion was unable to turn things around against the 54th-ranked Siniakova.

She hit 38 unforced errors on the remote Court 18.

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11:35 a.m.

Lucky loser Marco Trungelliti of Argentina has replaced Nick Kyrgios in the main draw of the French Open.

The 21st-seeded Kyrgios pulled out with an injured right elbow on Sunday.

Trungelliti will play Bernard Tomic in the first round.

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10:35 a.m.

Rafael Nadal headlines the second day at the French Open, beginning his bid for an 11th title at Roland Garros.

The “King of Clay” is 79-2 in Paris and is the title favorite again. He has lost only one match on his favorite surface this season, claiming titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome.

The top-ranked Spaniard faces Simone Bolelli of Italy on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Seventh-seeded Dominic Thiem, the only player to beat Nadal this season on clay, is also on the day’s busy program, taking on Ilya Ivashka of Belarus on Court 1.

Former champion Novak Djokovic, the No. 20 seed, is up against Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil.

In women’s play, No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki takes on American Danielle Collins, while two-time champion Maria Sharapova faces Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands.

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More AP tennis coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Tennis

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.