PARIS, May 28, 2018 (News Wires) - Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is through to the French Open second round after defeating Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. The No. 8-seeded Czech needed 2 hours, 7 minutes to overcome her 87th-ranked opponent on the Philippe-Chatrier showcourt on Monday. Kvitova's best run in Paris was to the semifinals in 2012. She bowed out in the second round last year, making her Grand Slam return after an assailant attacked her with a knife at her home in December 2016, requiring extensive surgery to her left hand, her playing hand. Royg had reached the fourth round at Roland Garros last year. Former top-ranked player Victoria Azarenka has bowed out of the French Open in the first round, beaten 7-5, 7-5 by Katerina Siniakova. Azarenka, a semifinalist in Paris five years ago, is currently ranked 84th after giving birth to a son in December 2016. After a poor clay-court campaign punctuated by early exits in Madrid and Rome, the two-time Grand Slam champion was unable to turn things around against the 54th-ranked Siniakova. She hit 38 unforced errors on the remote Court 18. Lucky loser Marco Trungelliti of Argentina has replaced Nick Kyrgios in the main draw of the French Open. The 21st-seeded Kyrgios pulled out with an injured right elbow on Sunday. Trungelliti will play Bernard Tomic in the first round. Rafael Nadal headlines the second day at the French Open, beginning his bid for an 11th title at Roland Garros. The "King of Clay" is 79-2 in Paris and is the title favorite again. He has lost only one match on his favorite surface this season, claiming titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome. The top-ranked Spaniard faces Simone Bolelli of Italy on Court Philippe Chatrier. Seventh-seeded Dominic Thiem, the only player to beat Nadal this season on clay, is also on the day's busy program, taking on Ilya Ivashka of Belarus on Court 1. Former champion Novak Djokovic, the No. 20 seed, is up against Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil. In women's play, No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki takes on American Danielle Collins, while two-time champion Maria Sharapova faces Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands. Unseeded Czech Katerina Siniakova scored herself a statement victory in the first round of the French Open on Monday, defeating former World No.1 and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, 7-5, 7-5. It was a tale of two contrasting sets for the duration of the one hour, 47 minute encounter, as neither player dropped serve - or even faced a break point - until the final game of the first set when Siniakova edged in front. In the second set, the World No.57 trailed by a break three times, but ultimately won four of the last five games of the match to score her first-ever main draw victory at Roland Garros. Jelena Ostapenko was dethroned as the French Open champion by the 66th-ranked Kateryna Kozlova on the first day of the French Open. The Latvian was unable to repeat the heroics of last year, when she became the first unseeded women's champion since 1933, as she lost 7-5, 6-3 to the Ukrainian on the main Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros. Ostapenko made 48 unforced errors, including 13 double faults against Kozlova, who has now won all of their three matches. "It was terrible day at the office today for me," Ostapenko said in a news conference. "I mean, in general I played maybe like 20% of what I can play. Made like 50 unforced errors and so many double faults. Like couldn't serve on Monday. Everything together just brought me really bad result." Unlike Ostapenko, who had been trying to become only the fourth woman in history to successfully defend her maiden grand slam title at Roland Garros, her opponent was able to play without any pressure. "I didn't expect anything from this match," Kozlova said in a court-side interview. "It's an amazing feeling." Ostapenko, 20, had taken the French Open by storm last year, producing almost 300 winners during the entire tournament with an aggressive game style that had rarely been seen before in the women's game at Roland Garros.
