It may be the first day of main-draw play at the 2017 French Open, but we already have big headlines, as top seed Angelique Kerber made history, albeit in a bad way, becoming the first world number to lose in the first round of the claycourt Grand Slam in the Open Era, while Petra Kvitova crowned her comeback from December’s career-threatening injury with a straight-set victory.
Kerber sealed the desperate 2017 clay season with a 6-2 6-2 defeat to Russian Ekaterina Makarova, who never trailed in their encounter, as Kerber won just 49% of points behind her first serve and converted just two of 16 break point opportunities.