America’s Andy Roddick and Nadia Petrova of Russia became the first major casualties of the 2006 French Open on Tuesday.
Roddick, the fifth seed, retired from his first-round match with Spanish journeyman Alberto Martin trailing 6-4, 7-5, 1-0, still feeling the effects of the ankle injury he picked up at the World Team Cup in Germany last week and which had always put his participation here in doubt.
”I haven’t had much time to practise and I caught the ankle again at 5-5 in the second set. It affected the way I landed on my serve and not much else was working apart from the serve,” said Roddick.
”It was a lost cause. I think I had been stupidly optimistic.”
Third seed Petrova was one of the favourites for the women’s title, having won three clay court events this year and arriving in Paris having put together a 15-match winning streak on the surface.
But she paid a heavy price for injuring her leg in training on Saturday and tumbled out 6-2, 6-2 to Japan’s Akiko Morigami.
”I was doing some explosive running and my left leg slipped on the clay. It was close to the groin and it meant that my left leg couldn’t move as quick as my right,” said the 23-year-old.
”But I really have no excuses. It’s really disappointing because I came here excited and was looking forward to a good result.”
Lleyton Hewitt avoided the fate of his fellow hobblers.
The Australian 14th seed, who damaged his ankle playing his first clay court match for two years in Austria last week, marked his return to Roland Garros after a two-year absence with a gritty 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 win over Czech Jan Hernych.
He now faces Mathieu Montcourt of France.
Hewitt’s fellow former world number one Marat Safin, who is still struggling to find his way back after knee surgery last year, suffered his earliest ever Roland Garros exit losing 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 to Chilean ninth seed Fernando Gonzalez.
While Petrova and Roddick left Paris under a cloud, there were no such problems for defending women’s champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, Martina Hingis and 2004 winner Anastasia Myskina.
Belgium’s Henin-Hardenne, seeded five, brushed aside Estonia’s Maret Ani 6-3, 6-0 and now faces Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus.
”It was clear in my head before the match what I had to do and I went out there and did it,” said Henin-Hardenne, who was also champion in 2003.
Hingis, playing here for the first time in five years and still dogged by memories of her infamous meltdown in the 1999 final, looked as if she had never been away with an easy 6-2, 6-2 win against America’s Lisa Raymond.
The twelfth-seed was a runner-up in 1997 and 1999 when she was jeered by the crowd after storming off court following her defeat to Steffi Graf.
”Coming back is definitely a different story. I’m not a teenager, I feel more mature as a person and as a player,” said Hingis, who now faces Zuzana Ondraskova of the Czech Republic.
Russian 10th seed Myskina, the 2004 winner who suffered the indignity of becoming the first defending champion to lose in the opening round 12 months later, disposed of India’s Sania Mirza 6-4, 6-1.
She next meets Hungary’s Melinda Czink.
On a cold, damp day at Roland Garros, China gave notice of its growing emergence as a tennis superpower by celebrating the presence of four women in the next round, a best performance.
Zheng Jie, who made the fourth round two years ago, knocked out French 23rd seed Tatiana Golovin 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) and will now face Croatia’s Ivana Lisjak.
Zheng joins Sun Tiantian, Peng Shuai and Li Na in the next stage.
All four players are guaranteed â,¬21 000 each at least for making the next stage, but most of that money will continue to swell the coffers of the Chinese tennis federation.
”A small half of the money goes to me but a big half goes to the federation,” smiled Zheng, opting not to elaborate on the exact figures.
Amongst the men’s seeds progressing were Croatian number four Ivan Ljubicic and Marcos Baghdatis, the 19th seed from Cyprus, who was runner-up at the Australian Open in January.
American 17th seed Robbie Ginepri was knocked out by Albert Montanes of Spain while Sweden’s 18th seed Thomas Johansson, a former Australian Open champion, was also a first-round loser, going down in five sets to Belgium’s Christophe Rochus. — AFP
