It is curtains Kerber

It’s the second time in three years that the Australian Open women’s champion lost in the first round at Roland Garros — the same thing happened to Li Na in 2014. Bertens, who won her second career title at Nuremberg on Saturday, broke Kerber twice to claim the opening set on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Kerber received treatment on her left shoulder at the changeover as she trailed 3-0 in the deciding set. The left-handed Kerber then briefly left the court and returned to win her service game but could not break back and lost the match. 

Kerber arrived in Paris on the back of early losses in both Madrid and Rome. Last week she pulled out of the Nuremberg tournament because of her shoulder injury. 

Kerber responded in the second set to force a decider, but Dutchwoman Bertens completed a shock victory to set up a second-round tie against Italy’s Camila Giorgi or French wildcard Alize Lim. 

Later, Andy Murray survived a first-round scare when he lost the first two sets before winning the next three against Radek Stepanek who went down 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5.

Rafael Nadal showed he is the master of clay. The nine-time champion’s 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory against Sam Groth of Australia added another notch to the Spanish player’s stunning record in Paris, now at 71 wins, with just two losses. 

Berdych gets the better of Pospisil: 

Tomas Berdych comfortably progressed into the second round with a straight sets win over Vasek Pospisil in Paris on Tuesday. 

The Czech, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2010, managed a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 triumph in one hour and 40 minutes. 

Berdych eased to a 3-0 lead in the opening set, and even though Pospisil was able to break back, it was not enough to stop his opponent from taking the set. The 30-year-old continued to dominate as he broke twice in the second set and saved two break points before doubling his lead on the clay court.

It took just 27 minutes for Berdych to wrap up the third set as he broke every single one of Pospisil’s service games. 

Australian star Bernard Tomic put his recent troubles behind him when he picked up a first clay-court win of the season on Tuesday. The 23-year-old Tomic breezed past Brian Baker, the 662nd-ranked American, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in a rare bright spell for the Australian.

Later, Eugenie Bouchard dispatched Germany’s Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-2. Siegemund, who is ranked 37th by the World Tennis Association to Bouchard’s 46th, committed 21 unforced errors and six double faults.