Tennis – French Open:Victoria Azarenka, the 10th seed, became the first big-name casualty at this year's French Open today. Earlier in the day, defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame a sluggish opening to get her title defence off to a winning start.
The Belarusian was thrashed 6-1 6-2 by Argentina's Gisela Dulko on Court Suzanne Lenglen at Roland Garros.
Azarenka has been suffering with a groin injury of late and clearly was below her best against an opponent ranked 34 places below her in the world at 45th.
Her serve came under constant threat - she was broken five times in total – as Dulko dominated affairs.
It was a sorry way to go out for Azarenka, who made the quarter-finals at this tournament in 2009.
Kuznetsova overcame Sorana Cirstea - a quarter-finalist in Paris 12 months ago – who was a tricky first-round opponent, especially for a player who arrived a Roland Garros having lost three straight matches on the WTA Tour.
And the early stages of the contest on Court Philippe Chatrier suggested a shock could be on the cards.
The Russian lost her opening service game and was soon 3-0 down as the errors flowed from her racquet.
However, she soon settled down and rattled off six straight games to turn the set around, winning it in 38 minutes.
An early break of the Cirstea serve in the second set saw Kuznetsova extend her winning streak to nine games, with her Romanian opponent by now looking forlorn after her decent start.
However, while Cirstea was able to get on the board by winning the fourth game, the damage had been done and Kuznetsova was soon celebrating a 6-3 6-1 victory.
Seconds before Kuznetsova completed victory, Dominika Cibulkova had become the first player into the second round at this year's tournament.
The 26th seed thrashed Ekaterina Ivanova 6-2 6-0.
France's big hope for glory, Aravane Rezai, also wasted little time in reaching round two.
Qualifier Heidi El Tabakh had no answer to Rezai's claycourt game and the Canadian slipped to a rapid 6-1 6-1 defeat.
The match was over in just 48 minutes, El Tabakh failing to create even a single break point.
Rezai, the 15th seed, is the host nation's best hope of success in the women's draw having shot to prominence earlier this month in Madrid where she won the title, claiming wins over Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams along the way.
France has not won the women's singles at Roland Garros since Mary Pierce was victorious in 2000.