Myskina crashes out

Anastasia Myskina’s defence of the French Open crown she won in glorious fashion last year ended with a whimper today as she crashed out in the opening round of this year’s event at Roland Garros.

Myskina, the Russian who beat countrywoman Elena Dementieva in the 2004 final, lost 6-4 4-6 6-0 to Spain’s Maria Sanchez Lorenzo to give the tournament its first upset.

The loss completes a miserable few months for the fifth seed, whose best performance this season came at the Australian Open when she reached the round of 16.

A shoulder injury may also have been the cause of the third set collapse which allowed Sanchez Lorenzo to ease her way into the second round.

Top seed Lindsay Davenport also found it tough going against Katarina Srebotnik before eventually overcoming her Slovenian opponent in three sets.

Davenport, who plays China’s Shuai Peng in the second round, has been struggling with a hip injury and missed the warm-up events to Roland Garros to ensure she was fresh.

And although she got off to a slow start, she dug deep to secure a 3-6 6-2 6-2 success.

Kim Clijsters, twice a runner-up in Paris, was the player to impress most on Monday, the Belgian proving she has overcome her latest injury scare – a knee problem – to see off Meilen Tu 6-1 6-0 in just 48 minutes.

Clijsters, seeded 14, broke the hapless American five times to set up a meeting with Ludmila Cervanova, the conqueror of Aiko Nakamura.

Fourth seed Dementieva, hoping to go one better than last year, got off to a good start, beating Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-3 while there were also wins for several other big names.

Heading the list was home favourite and 2000 winner Mary Pierce, who overcame Vera Douchevina 6-2 7-5.

Pierce displayed both sides to her game, mixing up sublime winners with needless errors, but came through and will now play Jelena Kostanic.

Kostanic was a comprehensive 6-0 6-1 victor against Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Seeds Shinobu Asagoe, Karolina Sprem, Daniela Hantuchova and Elena Likhovtseva advanced with varying degrees of difficulty.

Asagoe beat Julia Schruff 7-5 6-2, Sprem saw off Maria Elena Camerin 6-4 6-2, Hantuchova thrashed Michaella Krajicek 6-3 6-1 while Likhovtseva edged past Yuliana Fedak 2-6 6-4 6-4.

The only seed to fall other than Myskina was number 25 Dinara Safina, who was beaten 6-3 6-3 by Virginie Razzano.