Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero suffered his first ever first round loss at Roland Garros as a leg injury forced him out of his match against Marcos Daniel.
Former champion forced out, Spaniard cruises through.
Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero suffered his first ever first round loss at Roland Garros as a leg injury forced him out of his match against Marcos Daniel.
2003 champion Ferrero was 7-6 2-2 ahead against the Brazilian when he had to limp out of the match due to a leg injury.
The Spaniard's one and only Grand Slam success came at Roland Garros five years ago and he had never previously lost an opening round match in the claycourt tournament in his eight visits to the French capital.
Ferrero said that he started to feel pain in his leg during the opening set he won on a tie-break after being 3-1 down, but in the end the pain was too much and he had to pull out.
Fellow Spaniard David Ferrer had contrasting fortunes as he enjoyed a comfortable straight sets victory over Belgian Steve Darcis.
Fifth-seeded Ferrer was never troubled as he ran out a 6-3 6-4 6-3 winner against Darcis and he will now play French veteran Fabrice Santoro in the second round.
Hewitt stroll
Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt overcame the blustery weather, injury worries, and the home crowd to beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in his opening round match.
The Australian was doubtful for the tournament due to the hip injury which had seen him miss the entire claycourt season ahead of the French Open.
Hewitt made the trip to Roland Garros and despite the home crowd cheering on their man he blasted past Mahut 6-4 6-2 6-4 after two hours on Court One.
Another former world number one is also safely through to round two after Marat Safin bounced back from a set down to beat Jean-Rene Lisnard.
The Russian lost the opening set on the tie break but recovered well to beat the Monaco man 6-7 6-1 6-3 6-2 to advance to the second round.
The match was stopped by rain on Tuesday but Safin was already ahead, and he completed the job on Wednesday to set-up a meeting with fellow Russian Nikolay Davydenko.
Another French hope was rubbed out when Gilles Simon was beaten in his first round match by Radek Stepanek.
Simon could not give the home crowd anything to cheer as he fell to a 6-2 6-4 6-1 defeat, while Santoro set-up his clash with Ferrer by beating Evgeny Korolev in straight sets.
