Top seed Angelique Kerber knocked out of French Open in first round

Angelique Kerber became the first women's top seed in the Open era to lose in the opening round of the French Open on Sunday.

The German has been badly out of form in 2017, despite sitting at the top of the rankings, and the only surprise about her 6-2 6-2 loss to Ekaterina Makarova was the magnitude of it.

Russian Makarova, ranked 40, won five of the first six games and, although she came under more pressure in the second set, she kept Kerber at arm's length.

The top seed dropped serve six times and made 25 unforced errors in a match that lasted an hour and 22 minutes.

Makarova, who has made the fourth round here twice, was a tough opponent for a player who does not like clay and has reached just one WTA Tour final all year.

It is a second consecutive first-round loss at Roland Garros for Kerber, who won the Australian Open and US Open titles last year and reached the Wimbledon final.