PARIS – Sixth-seeded Sloane Stephens was upset in the first round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg by the 306th-ranked player in the world.
Nefisa Berberovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina lost the first set but rallied to defeat Stephens 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour, 54 minutes in Strasbourg, France. Stephens is ranked No. 53 in the world.
Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic, No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany and fourth-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium all won in straight sets to advance to the Round of 16.
Fifth-seeded Shuai Zhang of China lost, 6-2, 6-3 to Maryna Zanevska of Belgium. No. 9 seed Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland advanced, 6-0, 6-4.
Elsewhere, Gael Monfils will not compete at the French Open later this month as he goes under the knife to fix a problem with his right heel, the Frenchman said today.
The 22nd-ranked Monfils started the year well, winning his 11th ATP tour title in a tune-up event in Adelaide before reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals in January, where he was beaten by Matteo Berrettini.
He has struggled in recent months, however, failing to go past the round of 16 in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid.
“Hi all, I regret to inform you that I am forced to withdraw from Open Parc de Lyon and the French Open next week,” Monfils, the highest-ranked French player, wrote on Twitter according to Reuters.
“I have been bothered by a calcaneal spur since Monte-Carlo at my right heel which prevents me from moving properly on court. I have decided to undergo a small procedure this week to treat the issue before returning to competitive play.”
Monfils, 35, reached the last four at the 2008 French Open and repeated the feat eight years later at the 2016 US Open but has never reached a Grand Slam final.
The French Open begins on May 22.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic won his sixth Italian Open title Sunday after a straight-sets victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) in Rome, while Iga Swiatek won her fifth straight tournament by dispatching Ons Jabeur.
World number one Djokovic saw off underwhelming Monte Carlo Masters champion Tsitsipas to claim the last major tournament before Roland Garros gets underway later this month.
The 34-year-old won his first tournament of the season and confirmed his return to form after an opening few months of the season dominated by Covid-19 vaccination controversy.
“I’ve been building my form for the last couple of weeks and like the previous years I knew that my best shape on the clay is usually coming around Rome time,” Djokovic said on the court according to AFP.
“So it couldn’t be a better time coming into Roland Garros with a title.”
The clash was a rematch of the pair’s final at last year’s French Open final but had little of the drama of that five-set thriller won by the Serb in Paris.
Djokovic made surprisingly short work of Greece’s Tsitsipas, who had also reached the semi-finals of last week’s tournament in Madrid and still leads the men’s tour for wins this season.
Ranked fifth in the world, Tsitsipas was taken apart in the first set and looked oddly reluctant to take on Djokovic, but put up more of a fight in the second right until he threw away the set after serving for the match, succumbing in the tie-break without much resistance.
An emotional Djokovic then spoke to the crowd in Italian, telling them that they were the reason he had such a good record there and revealing his son Stefan was playing in his first ever tennis tournament.
He later beamed with pride as he revealed Djokovic junior had claimed the honours at a small club competition back home in Serbia.
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