IT was the day the King of Clay embarked on La Decima.
But it became more notable for the continuing malaise afflicting two of the breakthrough stars of last summer. The Crown Prince and a Canadian named after a British Princess were royally despatched from Roland Garros yesterday.
Grigor Dimitrov, the nifty Bulgarian No 10 seed, who ended Andy Murray's reign at Wimbledon in the SW19 quarter finals last year, skulked out under a cloud last night after a 7-6 (7), 6-2, 6-3 defeat to Jack Sock of the USA. He was met at the exit door by Eugenie Bouchard, who had thrilled crowds either side of La Manche by reaching the Roland Garros semi-final and Wimbledon final 12 months back. Bouchard has won just one tour match since March and her crisis of confidence continued as the No 6 seed slumped to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to home favourite Kristina Mladenovic of France.
"Honestly I don't know what to say," she said, after a match in which her misery was only enhanced by the way she clawed herself back from 5-0 down in the final set only to eventually succumb to the inevitable. "It's been kind of the same as how I have been feeling recently on the court. Just not like myself. I felt I was in the match. But tennis-wise, I still knew I was far off from how well I can play.
"Everyone has highs and lows in their career," she added. "This is a little bit of a low point for me. I had no expectations coming in. I have no expectations for the foreseeable future."
The Bulgarian - whose partner is Maria Sharapova - was similarly downbeat afterwards, speaking vaguely about not feeling 100% and reassessing a few things in the coaching arena. He at least had the dubious consolation of playing equally poorly here last year, when he went down in straight sets to Ivo Karlovic.
"It was definitely not a surprise," Dimitrov said. "I am disappointed but what can I do? My focus was off pretty much. I was making a lot of bad decisions and making a lot of bad shots. I have tough days but that is when you have to go through even if you don't feel your best. You have to make sure you make that transition from a bad day to a good day. It is tough for me to accept that two years in a row here I played a bad match, not just losing. There is something I need to work on, that I need to change maybe."
Considering all the pre-tournament hype, this was a fairly satisfactory debut at this year's tournament for Rafael Nadal, as he chased his 10th French Open title. Clad all in light, bright blue, the No 6 seed didn't have it all his own way against a young French wild card called Quentin Halys during his 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win. The Mallorcan had words of praise for his adventurous opponent and admitted the pre-tournament story that he had asked not to be officiated by Carlos Bernardes, the umpire who had rigidly enforced Nadal's time violations in Rio earlier this year. "I think is better for both of us if we are not in court at the same time for a while after what happened in Rio de Janeiro," said Nadal. "That's it. There's no problem with him personally."
It is his potential semi-final opponent Novak Djokovic, and not Nadal, who has the favourites' tag this year and few would have been withdrawing it after his 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 win over Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen. The Finn, clad in a maroon coloured outfit which looked it had been designed by Ian Poulter on LSD, was even a break up in the second set before Djokovic, in Dundee United colours, turned the screw. He ingratiated himself to the Chatrier court by doing a post-match interview in French then said he hoped he could emulate Andre Agassi and Roger Federer, both of whom won their first title here on their 11th visit. "I hope this is my lucky 11th year," he said.
The day's other top seeds, such as Serena Williams, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, Marin Cilic and David Ferrer all progressed comfortably.
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