MOSCOW, May 26 (R-Sport) – World No. 11 Nadia Petrova failed to clear the first-round hurdle at the French Open, suffering a three-set defeat to Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig on Sunday.
The Russian, who reached the semifinals in 2003 and 2005, made 50 unforced errors as she lost 6-3, 5-7, 4-6 in 2 hours 32 minutes.
In the second round, Puig who reached her first main draw at Grand Slam tournaments will face either U.S. starlet Madison Keys or Japan’s Misaki Doi.
Petrova is the highest ranked seed to crash out so far at Roland Garros.
Earlier in the day, world No. 1 Serena Williams demolished Georgia’s Anna Tatishvili 6-0, 6-1 and now plays either Ukraine’s Yuliya Beygelzimer or France’s Caroline Garcia in the second round.
Russia’s 19th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had a tough fight to beat Czech player Andrea Hlavackova 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.
Her second-round opponent will be another Czech, Petra Cetkovska, who crushed Russia’s Olga Puchkova 6-0, 6-2.
