PARIS ─ A nightmare opening day at Roland Garros sees only one competitor from the Baltic states remaining.
With Ernests “The Gull” Gulbis and Anastasija Sevastova currently playing the best tennis of their careers, both were expected to advance to the second week of competition. At the least, neither were expected to be ousted in the opening round.
But that was exactly what happened on the opening day of play, leaving just Estonian Kaia Kanepi competing in the women’s singles. Her first round match is expected to get underway early evening Baltic time.
Gulbis in particular has been in scintillating form, earning himself a 24th seeding for this tournament and backing from many quarters as an outside chance of winning here, given his recent strong performances on clay.
But it was an out of sorts Gulbis that was seen on court on Sunday, struggling to get any control in his match against local hopeful Julien Benneteau. After floundering in the first two set to fall behind 4-6, 2-6, Gulbis retired early in the third sighting a hamstring injury.
Playing at the same time, things were going no better for Sevastova, falling in straight set to unheralded Swede Johanna Larsson 2-6, 2-6. This is an extremely disappointing result for the young Latvian who was hoping to bank on some recent top form to claim a best finish in a grand slam.
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