Seeds tumble in Paris

David Nalbandian and James Blake were high-profile men’s seeds to be eliminated from the French Open today.

Argentina’s Nalbandian, the sixth seed, won the opening two sets of his match against France’s Jeremy Chardy but then slipped off the pace as he was beaten 3-6 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-2.

Nalbandian appeared to be moving gingerly towards the end of a match that lasted over three hours.

Blake, the seventh seed, was also a surprising loser, in four sets to Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis.

The seventh seed looked in good form in beating Rainer Schuttler in his first-round match, but could not follow it up as he was dumped out 7-6 (7/2) 3-6 7-5 6-3 by the 19-year-old.

The American is still to progress beyond the third round at Roland Garros.

Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov, the 30th seed, will play Chardy in the third round after an impressive 7-6 (7/4) 6-0 6-0 win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.