By WTM staff and wire reports
Ernests Gulbis became the first high-profile casualty of the French Open, pulling out of the tournament lame against Julien Benneteau of France in the first round.
Gulbis, who beat Roger Federer en route to the semifinals of Rome earlier this month, was many critics’ pre-tournament tip as a dark horse at Roland Garros.
However, the Latvian No. 23 seed was outplayed early on before a hamstring injury forced him to retire at 6-4, 6-2, 1-0, ret.
Gulbis revealed he would undergo a scan on his leg, but refused to be too downbeat, saying: “I stretched my hamstring in my right leg and I heard two cracks. I will go for a scan and hope that nothing is broken.
“It’s very disappointing. I prepared really well for the tournament. But I have another eight or nine years in front of me, maybe 20 Grand Slams.
“If I concentrate on just this one, I’d go nuts. It’s happened and I will learn from it,” added the 21-year-old.
Gulbis is featured in this interview:
With Harry Cicma of the New England Sports Network Show “World Tennis with Harry Cicma.”
Elsewhere, Swedish fifth seed Robin Soderling, a finalist at Roland Garros last year, cruised into round two.
Meanwhile, No. 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France overcame German upstart Daniel Brands in five sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5.
He produced a completely dominant display to dispatch wild card Laurent Recouderc and cruise through in a complete mismatch.
Soderling hit a string of winners – 46 in total – to which world No. 179 Recouderc simply had no answer.
And the 25-year-old, last year’s runner-up at Roland Garros, ultimately won through 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and a half.
“It’s always nice to have a quick match in the early rounds. It was a good to have a few rallies,” said Soderling.
Referring to his run in the tournament last year, during which he beat four-time champion Rafael Nadal before losing out to Roger Federer in the final, he added: “That was all last year. I have to start over again. But of course it’s always nice to come back to a place where you did well last year. It gives you good feelings.”
Also, 10th seed Marin Cilic overcame a second-set wobble to beat Ricardo Mello 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Russian No. 11 seed Mikhail Youzhny was barely troubled as he saw off Poland’s Michal Przysiezny 6-1, 6-0, 6-4, making just 11 unforced errors and breaking his opponent seven times.
Colombian Alejandro Falla, who U.S. Davis Cup fans are likely to see later this year when his country takes on the United States in September’s Davis Cup Play-off Round in Colombia, wasted equal little time in beating Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. He will next face top seed Roger Federer. Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker overcame Frenchman Olivier Patience 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Chilean two-time Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu fell at the first hurdle in a five-set epic against Italian Fabio Fognini, going down 6-1, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
But there were no such problems for Spanish seeds Albert Montanes and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Montanes, seeded 29th, beat Italian Stefano Galvani 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, while 32nd seed Garcia-Lopez downed German Rainer Schuettler 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.