French Open: Sixth seed Bianca Andreescu falls at first hurdle in Paris

Canadian Andreescu, 20, served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set but Zidansek broke back before missing a match point of her own in a gripping finale.

Canada's Bianca Andreescu during her first round match on day two of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros on Monday.

Bianca Andreescu became the highest women's seed to fall at the French Open so far as she lost a three-hour marathon match against Tamara Zidansek in the first round on Monday.

The former U.S. Open champion, seeded sixth, went down 6-7(1) 7-6(2) 9-7 to the Slovenian.

Canadian Andreescu, 20, served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set but Zidansek broke back before missing a match point of her own in a gripping finale.

Andreescu found herself in trouble again serving at 7-8 and this time was unable to dig her way out of trouble with world number 85 Zidansek winning in three hours and 20 minutes.

READ |

While on paper it was a shock, Andreescu was playing at only her third Tour-level claycourt tournament and her lack of experience on the surface ultimately proved decisive.

The women's draw lost another big name when former French Open semi-finalist Kiki Bertens fell at the first hurdle, losing 6-1 3-6 6-4 to another Slovenian Polona Hercog.

Marketa Vondrousova, the 2019 runner-up who is seeded 20th this year, managed to avoid an early exit, battling back from a set down to beat Kaia Kanepi 4-6 6-3 6-0.