Venus Williams upset in opening round of French Open

The first major seed drops.

The French Open began Sunday with an upset at Roland Garros with No. 9 seed Venus Williams losing in straight sets to world No. 78 Wang Qiang of China.

Williams seemed to be in control in the first set, breaking Wang twice but couldn’t keep up the pace as the went on to lose the first set 6-4, before failing to hang on and dropping the second set 7-5. Clay has never been Venus’ strongest surface, with a career 48-21 record at Roland Garros, but it was still expected that she would make it out of the first round, even at 37-years-old.

It wasn’t all bad news for American women at the French Open, with No. 10 seed Sloane Stephens breezing to an easy 6-2, 6-0 win over Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands. It was a much-needed win for Stephens, who hadn’t won a match in a Grand Slam since claiming the U.S. Open title last September.

Overall it was a difficult day for the top-seeded women. Elina Svitolina survived an early scare against Ajla Tomljanović, who pushed the No.4 seed in the opening set and commanded a 5-1 lead before collapsing and leading to a 7-5, 6-3 win.

Complete results

Men’s singles

No. 2 Alexander Zverev vs. Ricardas Berankis
No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov def. Mohamed Safwat, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(1)
No. 8 David Goffin vs. Robin Haase
No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta def. Jozef Kovalik, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(5)
No. 15 Lucas Pouille vs. Daniil Medvedev
No. 19 Kei Nishikori def. Maxime Janvier, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3
No. 26 Damir Dzumhurd def. Denis Kudla, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
No. 30 Fernando Verdasco vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
No. 32 Gael Monfils def. Elliot Benchetrit, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1
Federico Delbonis vs. Thomaz Bellucci
Nicolas Jarry vs. Jared Donaldson
Oscar Otte vs. Matteo Berrettin
Corentin Moutet def. Ivo Karlovic, 7-6(7), 6-2, 7-6(5)
Martin Klizan def. Laslo Djere, 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-1
Guido Andreozzi vs. Taylor Fritz
Radu Albot def. Gregoire Barrere, 4-6, 0-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-2

Women’s singles

No. 4 Elina Svitolina def. Ajla Tomljanovic, 7-5, 6-3
No. 5 Jelena Ostapenko vs. Kateryna Kozlova
Qiang Wang def. No. 9 Venus Williams, 6-4, 7-5
No. 10 Sloane Stephens def. Arantxa Rus, 6-2, 6-0
No. 22 Johanna Konta vs. Yulia Putintseva
No. 25 Anett Kontaveit def. Madison Brengle, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
No. 26 Barbora Strycova def. Kurumi Nara, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 32 Alize Cornet def. Sara Errani, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
Francesca Schiavone vs. Viktoria Kuzmova
Ekaterina Makarova def. Saisai Zheng, 6-4, 6-1
Magdalena Frech vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
Jennifer Brady def. Amandine Hesse, 6-1, 6-1
Magda Linette vs. Zarina Diyas
Petra Martic def. Yafan Wang, 6-2, 6-3
Alexandra Dulgheru vs. Christina McHale
Chloe Paquet vs. Pauline Parmentier