Britain’s already small contingent at the French Open was reduced to two on the opening day when Dan Evans lost to Thanasi Kokkinakis.
The British No 2 branded his performance “shocking” in a 6-4 6-4 6-4 defeat, while the main talking point of second seed Aryna Sabalenka’s victory over Marta Kostyuk came after the match when the Roland Garros crowd booed Ukrainian Kostyuk for not shaking her Belarusian opponent’s hand.
Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a scare against Jiri Vesely but his fellow Greek Maria Sakkari was an early faller, the eighth seed losing to Czech Karolina Muchova for the second year in a row in Paris.
Picture of the day
Marta Kostyuk, left, was booed after refusing to shake Aryna Sabalenka’s hand (Christophe Ena/AP)
Quote of the day
“I want to see people react to it in 10 years when the war is over. I think they will not feel really nice about what they did.” – Marta Kostyuk on the Roland Garros crowd
Ons Jabeur is looking to take the next step after reaching two grand slam finals last year, losing to Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon and Iga Swiatek at the US Open.
The Tunisian joked: “I think, if it’s meant to be, I will get there one day. If it’s not, then I will go have a daughter and make her win Wimbledon.”
Fallen seeds
Men: Dan Evans (20), Ben Shelton (30)
Women: Maria Sakkari (8), Magda Linette (21), Zhang Shuai (29)
Who’s up next?
Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper will try to ensure Britain’s singles interest does not end on just the second day of the tournament.
Norrie, seeded 14th, faces erratic Frenchman Benoit Paire while 21-year-old Draper makes his Roland Garros debut against in-form Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry.
Novak Djokovic begins his campaign against American Aleksandar Kovacevic and top seed Carlos Alcaraz plays Flavio Cobolli, with the first night session match of the tournament pitting France’s Alexandre Muller against eighth seed Jannik Sinner.
