Injury-plagued former Australian No.1 Daria Gavrilova has made a stunning return to grand slam tennis with a straight-sets first-round upset win over rising star Dayana Yastremska.
Playing on a protected ranking after slumping to No.785 in the world, Gavrilova sent the 24th seed packing with a 6-4 6-3 boilover on a cold and controversial first day at Roland Garros.
Gavrilova only made her comeback two weeks ago from more than a year out battling a debilitating foot injury and entered the claycourt slam with modest hopes.
But the one-time world No.20 needed only one hour and 21 minutes to see off Yastremska and book a date with former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard.
Compatriot Astra Sharma also advanced but more-fancied Australians Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson, Ajla Tomljanovic and main-draw debutant Maddison Inglis all perished in the first round.
De Minaur crashed to a 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 6-0 loss to Italian qualifier Marco Cecchinato after blowing two set points in the opening tiebreaker.
The match was played in drizzly rain, the soggy balls and saturated court conspiring to render de Minaur’s signature counter-punching ineffective against a formidable claycourt exponent who eliminated Novak Djokovic en route to the semi-finals two years ago.
“Obviously he’s a dirt player. He plays very well on clay and he played some good tennis. It was tough conditions out there, so he probably adapted a little bit better than I did and therefore he got the win,” de Minaur said.
De Minaur’s premature departure comes little more than three weeks after the world No.28 surged to the US Open quarter-finals.
Thompson, who reached the third round last year and fresh off his own career-best run to the last 16 at Flushing Meadows, suffered a crushing 6-2 6-4 6-1 loss to Moldova’s Radu Albot.
Tomljanovic and Inglis both succumbed to higher-ranked seeds.
Tomljanovic, the top-ranked Australian in the women’s draw in the absence of world No.1 and 2019 champion Ashleigh Barty, went down 6-0 7-5 to in-form Greek Maria Sakkari, a winner last month over the great Serena Williams.
But Sharma cashed in on an unexpected 11th-hour call-up with a dogged three-set first-round win over Russian Anna Blinkova.
Sharma only gained entry to main draw as a “lucky loser” from the final round of qualifying.
But the 25-year-old is now at least $140,000 richer after securing the biggest pay day of her career with her 6-3 2-6 7-5 triumph.
“Super thrilled,” Sharma told AAP.
“It was really tough conditions, really rainy. The balls were really soaked, the court was pretty wet so you’d hit a regular shot, the ball wouldn’t go anywhere.
“But I was pretty happy with the way I handled everything and the way I kept it together and tried to find a way to win out there.”
Sharma’s reward is a shot at another Russian, Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 27th seed who ousted Inglis 6-3 6-3.
