Roland Garros Rewind

Roland Garros Rewind: First-week shocks

From Barbara Schett and Aniko Kapros through Akiko Morigami and Virginie Razzano to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Hsieh Su-Wei, all the unseeded players who have defeated a Top 8 seed in the first week (rounds one to three) of Roland Garros since 1999.

01 /38
Conchita Martínez and Mary Pierce clashed four times on clay in 1999 and scored two wins apiece, but the resurgent No.22-ranked Spaniard triumphed over the No.8 seed at Roland Garros 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round.

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02 /38
In 2000, Dominique Monami (competing under her married name of Van Roost) stunned No.2 seed Lindsay Davenport 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 in the first round - the Belgian's fifth career Top 5 win and one she would repeat in Eastbourne a month later.

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03 /38
Chanda Rubin's 6-4, 7-6(3) upset of No.6 seed Nathalie Tauziat in the 2000 third round was the American's first Top 10 win on clay in five years, and put her on course to make her second Roland Garros quarterfinal.

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04 /38
Barbara Schett had not won a set in four previous meetings against Venus Williams, but in 2001 stunned the No.2 seed 6-4, 6-4 in the first round - the Austrian's fourth Top 5 win, and her career-best scalp by ranking.

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05 /38
Home expectations were high in 2001 for No.5 seed Amélie Mauresmo, who was coming off the Berlin title and Rome final - but World No.56 Jana Kandarr crushed her dreams 7-5, 7-5 in the first round, the German's sole Top 10 win of her career.

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06 /38
Nine-time WTA titlist Henrieta Nagyova scored her third Top 10 win 7-5, 7-5 over No.7 seed Elena Dementieva, who had missed the preceding red clay swing due to a shoulder injury, in the 2001 second round.

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07 /38
Conchita Martínez reached the second week of Roland Garros in each of her first 13 appearances, but in 2001 the No.8 seed's streak was snapped 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in round three by Cara Black - the Zimbabwean's only major last-16 showing in singles.

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08 /38
Future Roland Garros legend Justine Henin was a title favorite in 2002 after winning Berlin - but the No.5 seed crashed out 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 to Hungary's Aniko Kapros, an 18-year-old No.179-ranked qualifier, in the first round.

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09 /38
In 2002, World No.47 Paola Suárez saved two match points to stun No.8 seed Sandrine Testud 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the first round - a third Top 10 victory for the Argentinian 25-year-old, and one that put her on track for her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal.

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10 /38
Another Argentinian, 20-year-old World No.87 Clarisa Fernández, shocked 2001 finalist and No.4 seed Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-0 in the 2002 third round before going all the way to the semifinals on her Roland Garros debut.

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11 /38
Italy's Tathiana Garbin dealt out Justine Henin's only loss at Roland Garros between 2002 and 2010, ousting the No.1 seed and defending champion 7-5, 6-4 in the 2004 second round - the 26-year-old World No.86's second of two career Top 10 wins.

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12 /38
World No.94 Marlene Weingartner's 6-3, 6-2 defeat of No.8 seed Nadia Petrova in the 2004 third round was the German's fourth Top 10 win - and second at a Grand Slam - and put her into the fourth round of a major for the second time.

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13 /38
In 2005, No.5 seed Anastasia Myskina became the first Roland Garros defending champion in the Open Era to lose in the first round, falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to World No.109 María Sánchez Lorenzo.

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14 /38
In 2006, No.3 seed Nadia Petrova's 15-match WTA winning streak after titles in Amelia Island, Charleston and Berlin was snapped in the first round by World No.69 Akiko Morigami, who scored the only Top 10 win of her career 6-2, 6-2.

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15 /38
Kaia Kanepi's career has seen the Estonian garner a reputation for Top 10 upsets and Grand Slam quarterfinal runs; the first of both came at Roland Garros 2008 after the 22-year-old knocked off No.6 seed Anna Chakvetadze 6-4, 7-6(2) in round two.

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16 /38
Yaroslava Shvedova's first four Top 10 wins all came on the Grand Slam stage, and the second of those was her 7-5, 6-3 defeat of No.8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the 2010 second round on the way to her first of three major quarterfinals.

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17 /38
World No.114 Arantxa Rus saved two match points before stunning No.2 seed Kim Clijsters, who had injured her ankle dancing at a wedding a month earlier, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the 2011 second round - Clijsters' only Roland Garros appearance since 2006.

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18 /38
World No.51 Gisela Dulko posted the ninth and final Top 10 win of her career in the 2011 third round, defeating the previous year's runner-up and No.8 seed Samantha Stosur 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 - the Argentine avenging her loss to Stosur in Madrid a month prior.

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19 /38
In 2012, a major upset saw World No.111 Virginie Razzano deal out the only Grand Slam first-round loss of No.5 seed Serena Williams's career, winning 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 on her eighth match point after trailing 1-5 in the second-set tiebreak.

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20 /38
Rising 21-year-old Petra Martic scored the first Top 10 win of her career in a breakthrough 2012 tournament, eliminating No.8 seed Marion Bartoli 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round en route to her first Grand Slam fourth round.

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21 /38
World No.67 Bethanie Mattek-Sands avenged a loss to Li Na a month earlier in Stuttgart by dispatching the No.6 seed 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the 2013 second round - the American's second Top 10 win of that year's clay swing, and fourth overall.

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22 /38
Jamie Hampton's 6-1, 7-6(7) defeat of No.7 seed Petra Kvitova in the 2013 third round was the first of three Top 10 wins that season which established the 23-year-old American as one to watch, only for injuries to effectively end her career in 2014.

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23 /38
In 2014, World No.103 Kristina Mladenovic snapped a five-match losing streak to stun No.2 seed Li Na 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in the first round - the first of three Top 10 wins at Roland Garros for the Frenchwoman, and the penultimate event of Li's career.

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24 /38
As a 20-year-old ranked World No.35, Garbiñe Muguruza posted her first Top 5 win 6-2, 6-2 over No.1 seed Serena Williams in the 2014 second round; two years later, the Spaniard would reprise this result in the Roland Garros final to claim her first major.

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25 /38
The top three seeds all fell in the first week in 2014 for the first time in the Open Era, with No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska joining Williams and Li after losing 6-4, 6-4 to World No.72 Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round.

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26 /38
2015 saw Kristina Mladenovic - the only player who appears on this list twice, and this time fresh off her maiden WTA final in Strasbourg - oust a top seed in the first round for the second year running, defeating No.6 Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-4.

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27 /38
In 2015, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni overpowered No.3 seed Simona Halep for the second time in 12 months on the Grand Slam stage, winning 7-5, 6-1 in the second round and sealing the only season of this decade in which Halep would not reach a clay final.

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28 /38
Between 2011 and 2018, Julia Goerges beat Caroline Wozniacki six times in eight matches; her 6-4, 7-6(4) defeat of the No.5 seed in the 2015 second round was the only one of those on the major stage, despite poor prior form and a ranking of World No.72.

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29 /38
Fresh off the Nurnberg title and on a career-changing run of form, World No.58 Kiki Bertens posted the first Top 5 win of her career in shocking No.3 seed Angelique Kerber 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the 2016 first round before going all the way to the semifinals.

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30 /38
In 2016, No.5 seed and reigning Sunshine Double champion Victoria Azarenka retired while trailing Karin Knapp 6-3, 6-7(6), 4-0 in the first round, citing a knee injury - the Belarusian's final match before taking maternity leave.

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31 /38
World No.65 Kateryna Bondarenko scored her first Top 10 win since her own maternity leave, and seventh overall, in the 2016 first round, defeating US Open runner-up and No.7 seed Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-3.

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32 /38
Ekaterina Makarova lived up to her status as a dangerous floater in 2017 by beating No.1 seed Angelique Kerber 6-2, 6-2 in the first round - the Russian's 24th Top 10 win, and the first round-one loss for a Roland Garros top seed in the Open Era.

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33 /38
At the age of 31, Hsieh Su-Wei had lost all 13 of her career matches against Top 10 opponents - but the World No.109 broke that streak in the 2017 first round with a 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 win over No.7 seed Johanna Konta, the first of seven Top 10 wins since.

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34 /38
Ons Jabeur's 6-4, 6-3 upset of No.6 seed Dominika Cibulkova in the 2017 second round wasn't just a personal milestone for the No.114-ranked lucky loser: the Tunisian's first Top 10 also made her the first Arab woman to reach the third round of a major.

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35 /38
In 2018, No.5 seed Jelena Ostapenko became the second Roland Garros defending champion to lose in the first round in the Open Era, falling 7-5, 6-3 to Kateryna Kozlova - the Ukrainian's first Top 10 win of her career.

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36 /38
Rising 18-year-old World No.81 Anastasia Potapova, a former junior World No.1, posted the first Top 10 win of her career 6-4, 6-2 over No.5 seed Angelique Kerber in the 2019 first round.

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37 /38
In 2019, No.4 seed Kiki Bertens came into Roland Garros on a roll after lifting the Madrid trophy - but illness struck the Dutchwoman, who retired trailing Viktoria Kuzmova, who had defeated her four months previously in Dubai, 3-1.

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38 /38
The 2019 third round saw doubles World No.1 Katerina Siniakova oust singles World No.1 Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2; the Czech singles World No.42's defeat of the No.1 seed was her fifth Top 10 win, and first at a major.

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