PARIS — Former world No. 1 Venus Williams suffered another early French Open exit when she was beaten 7-6 (5), 6-1 by fellow American Sloane Stephens in the first round on Monday.
It was not a major surprise though as Stephens has reached the fourth round of the clay-court grand slam in the past three years. She will face Briton Heather Watson next.
Seven-time grand slam champion Williams, whose best result in Paris is a runner-up spot in 2002 but had not gone past the second round in the last four years, made the better start, opening a 2-0 lead but Stephens proved more accurate.
The 22-year-old broke back and sent the opening set into a tiebreak, which she easily won as her opponent, whom she had never met, netted a forehand.
The 34-year-old Williams never recovered and looked short of energy in the second set as Stephens raced to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, ending the baseline contest with an ace.
“I feel like I had some good practices coming into Roland Garros but sometimes things don’t always work out the way you would like,” said Williams.
Stephens’s biggest fright of the match came in the second game of the second set, when a pigeon came down flying past her as she was about to receive a serve.
“First of all, I didn’t know what it was,” an amused Stephens, who reached the semifinals at the Strasbourg Internationals last week, told a news conference.
“I thought it was way closer to me than it actually was. So that was why I screamed so loud. And I don’t know, in the moment, things just happen and it was just scary and I was like, ahhh and a scream came out.
“And then she probably wasn’t happy because she probably would have hit an ace and it was just a weird moment.”
Defending champion Maria Sharapova got booed Monday after battling a cold and a tough opponent to move to the second round of the French Open.
The Russian coughed her way through a 6-1, 6-4 win against Kaia Kanepi, a two-time quarterfinalist from Estonia. Sharapova, who struck 17 winners, got booed by some spectators after she turned down an on-court post-match interview.
“I totally understand that, everyone usually does post- interviews and answers a few questions to the crowd,” Sharapova said about the booing on the main Court Philippe Chatrier.
Although the second-seeded Russian said she’d been struggling with a cold for about a week, she never considered not playing.
“Unless I’m really in my coffin, I’m going to be out there,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Agnieszka Radwanska’s difficult season continued as she was knocked out of the opening round by former junior winner Annika Beck, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
It was the earliest defeat at Roland Garros for Radwanska, a former Wimbledon finalist, since 2007. Last month, Radwanska parted ways with 18-time Grand Slam singles winner Martina Navratilova, who had been coaching her since December. A former second-ranked player, the Polish player has dropped to No. 14 in the rankings.
“It was really strange match,” 2013 quarterfinalist Radwanska told reporters. “I started pretty slow and it was too late in that first set. Was much better in the second set. I thought I’m playing still my game in third set, but just went too fast just other way.”
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka cruised past Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain, 6-2, 6-1. Australia’s Samantha Stosur, a former Australian Open winner, beat Madison Brengle of the U.S., 6-1, 6-3.