French Open Day 3 recap: Top players Li Na, Grigor Dimitrov tumble out in Paris

Author:
bettemarston
Publish date:
May 27, 2014

Li Na was clearly not pleased after sliding out in the first round of the French Open. (Julien Crosnier/DPPI/Icon SMI)

What happened?

Upsets continue as No. 2 Li Na tumbles out in the first round: For the first time in the Open Era, the reigning men's and women's Australian Open champions lost in the first round of the French Open, as Li followed Stan Wawrinka out of the tournament with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 loss to France's Kristina Mladenovic. The result opens up the bottom quarter of the draw -- the remaining seeds are, in order, Jelena Jankovic, Sara Errani, Kirsten Flipkens, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Sorana Cirstea and Andrea Petkovic.

No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov blown off the court by Ivo Karlovic: Both men were in good clay form heading into Paris, but it was Karlovic who played nearly flawless tennis to oust the Bulgarian phenom 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (4). Dimitrov's loss paves the way for a potential rematch of last year's final between Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer in the quarterfinals. The remaining seeds in Ferrer's section are Kevin Anderson and Andreas Seppi.

Madison Keys' comeback falls short against Sara Errani: There's no love lost between the 19-year-old American and Europe's red clay, but she's slowly slowly convincing herself that she's not so bad on the surface. Keys lost the first set to the 2012 finalist 7-5 after trailing 1-5, and showed off some great shotmaking to take the second set 6-3. She fell away quickly 6-1 in the third set, but the teenager can see her progress.

"It's definitely an improvement from last year," she said. "Last year I could have lost that match 2 and 2. I mean, it sucks. No one likes to be sitting here after they lose. But it's all about getting better and I've definitely made a huge jump from last year and that's what it's all about."

Light suspends Steve Johnson's five-set comeback: Court 7 had a full Davis Cup atmosphere going on as French wild card Laurent Lokoli looked on his way to beating Johnson in straight sets. But Lokoli got nervous trying to close out the first-round match, and Johnson came back to take the next two sets as light began to fade. Play will resume with Johnson leading 3-1 in the fifth.

Caroline Wozniacki faced the media after losing to Yanina Wickmayer: In her first match since her sudden breakup with Rory McIlroy, Wozniacki lost to Wickmayer 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-2 and then addressed a packed interview room. She's still struggling with a knee injury, but she put on a brave face as everyone tried to avoid the big elephant in the room.

WERTHEIM: Caroline Wozniacki shows everyone she's going to be just fine

Marinko Matosevic finally gets a win: The Australian broke his 0-12 streak at the Slams, beating Dustin Brown 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-7 (1), 7-5. When asked if he ever thought about the prospect of just never winning at majors, Matosevic said: "No, I never thought that. Maybe a lesser man would've. I'm just kidding."

Michael Llodra bids adieu to Roland Garros: The 34-year-old Frenchman played his final singles match at the French Open, losing to Fernando Verdasco.