Australia’s 11-strong French Open contingent has been reduced to nine with the first-round eliminations of Ajla Tomljanovic and Maddison Inglis.

Handed tough draws, Tomljanovic and Inglis both lost to 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.

But not without a fight.

Enjoying her finest grand slam season of her career, after reaching the last 16 in Melbourne and New York, 25-year-old Sakkari swept through the first in 28 minutes without dropping a game.

But the 20th seed, a winner last month over the great Serena Williams, had to battle back from 5-3 down in the second as Tomljanovic made a stand.

Making her main-draw debut at Roland Garros, Inglis suffered a 6-3 6-3 defeat at the hands of Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 27th seed.

Four other Australians, including US Open quarter-finalist Alex de Minaur, are also in action on day one in Paris.

De Minaur, seeded 25th, plays Italy’s 2018 semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato in a challenger opener.

Jordan Thompson, fresh off his career-best grand-slam run to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows, faces Radu Albot of Moldova.

Making her long-awaited grand slam comeback after battling debilitating foot injuries for the past 18 months, Daria Gavrilova meets Dayana Yastremska, the 24th seed from Ukraine.

Astra Sharma is up against unseeded Russian Anna Blinkova.