PARIS — Marin Cilic became the first seeded player eliminated from the French Open, losing to Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday in the first round.
The 19th-seeded Cilic, who reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, had 67 unforced errors in the match and was broken five times.
For Ramirez Hidalgo, it was only his fourth win in 15 Grand Slams.
“It’s my greatest victory this season, that’s for sure,” said Hidalgo, 33. “I would not say this is the beginning of a new career, because I’m too old for this, but it’s a kind of relief.”
Seventh-seeded David Ferrer had no such problems, advancing by defeating Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
No. 14 Stanislas Wawrinka, No. 17 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, No. 30 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and No. 31 Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine also advanced.
On the women’s side, Sam Stosur opened her bid to return to the French Open final by beating Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-3.
Stosur next plays Simona Halep of Romania, who became the first player to reach the second round.
The first seeded women’s player to lose was No. 19 Shahar Peer. The Israeli lost to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 7-6 (4), 6-1. Later No. 18 Plavia Pennetta of Italy lost to American Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
No. 10 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, No. 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, No. 14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, No. 17 Julia Goerges of Germany and No. 32 Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria advanced.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt withdrew because of a foot injury.
