PARIS — Serena Williams entered Tuesday with a 37-0 record in the first round at Grand Slam tournaments.
She also began the day with a four-match losing streak, the longest of her career.
Williams focused on the second of those statistics, the more discouraging one. And while she never appeared truly in danger of coming out on the wrong end against 100th- ranked Klara Zakopalova, there were times when it did seem Williams simply could not wrap things up.
Twice, Williams served for the match and was broken. Eight times, Williams was a single point from victory and couldn’t complete the task. Finally, on match point No. 9, Zakopalova pushed a forehand wide to seal Williams’ 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 victory.
“I was just desperate for a win,” the second-seeded Williams said, “and I think it pretty much showed in my game.”
Whether it was the result of rust or a lingering knee injury or the swirling wind that carried debris from the stands onto the court, Williams’ mistakes kept coming. She finished with the same number of unforced errors as winners, 35, wound up wasting 13-of-20 break points and put only 55 percent of her first serves in play.
Williams called her performance “horrendous,” and said, “I just played junior tennis — or even worse.”
Tuesday’s only newsworthy upsets might not necessarily count as significant surprises, actually, given that they involved U.S. men losing to Argentines: No. 15 James Blake lost to qualifier Leonardo Mayer 7-6 (6), 7-5, 6-2, and No. 22 Mardy Fish was beaten by Maximo Gonzalez 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Bobby Reynolds lost in straight sets to No. 11 Gael Monfils of France, making U.S. men 2-7 in the first round.
At a glance
A look at the French Open on Tuesday:
How the top seeds fared: No. 4 Novak Djokovic, No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro, No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced while Americans No. 15 James Blake and No. 22 Mardy Fish were eliminated. Women — No. 2 Serena Williams, No. 4 Elena Dementieva, No. 5 Jelena Jankovic, No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced.
Stat of the day: 14 — consecutive games dropped by No. 27 Rainer Schuettler to begin his 6-0, 6-0, 6-4 loss to Marc Gicquel.
Quote of the day: “Couldn’t you tell how tortured I was out there? I think my face said it all.” — Williams after needing three sets to get past her 100th-ranked opponent.
On court today: No. 1 Rafael Nadal vs. Teimuraz Gabashvili, No. 3 Andy Murray vs. Potito Starace, No. 7 Gilles Simon vs. Robert Kendrick; No. 1 Dinara Safina vs. Vitalia Diatchenko, No. 3 Venus Williams vs. Lucie Safarova, No. 8 Ana Ivanovic vs. Tamarine Tanasugarn.
TV: Tennis Channel, 3-10 a.m.; ESPN2, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
The Associated Press
