Live at Roland Garros – Day Two

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  • Kicking back: Rafa Nadal is gunning for his fifth straight Roland Garros title.

    Sport360°'s tennis expert Reem Abulleil is in Paris for the 2014 French Open and will be providing regular updates throughout the tournament on this 'Live at Roland Garros' page.

    So for all the latest breaking news, photos, social media activity, and everything else Roland Garros-related, this is the place to be… (timings below are Paris local time, two hours behind UAE time)

    22:40 Wawrinka is clearly upset about his shock loss to Guillermo Garcia Lopez. Says he "needs to put the puzzle back together". Also says he needs a few more days to properly figure out why he lost.

    He is the first Australian Open champion to lose in the 1st round of the subsequent Roland Garros since Petr Korda in 1998.

    The last Grand Slam champion to lose in the 1st round of their next major was reigning Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal at 2013 Wimbledon.

    Wawrinka is the first first-time men's Grand Slam winner to lose in the 1st round of their next major since Lleyton Hewitt lost in the 1st round at the 2002 Australian Open having won the 2001 US Open.

    ** Facundo Bagnis beats Benneteau 18-16 in the fifth set. Making his Grand Slam main draw debut, the Argentine ties a French Open record for most games in one set (34). The other match was contested by Isner and Mathieu in 2012.**

    19:58 Julien Benneteau chanelling his inner Mahut. He's tied at 15-15 in the fifth set against Argentina's Facundo Bagnis.

    19:35 Tuesday's order of play is out. Philippe Chatrier: Kleybanova v Halep, Ferrer v Sijsling, Ivanovic v Garcia, Monfils v Hanescu. Suzanne Lenglen: Li Na v Mladenovic, Gasquet v Tomic, Murray v Golubev, Errani v Keys.

    19:09 Nadal crushes Ginepri 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 … Meanwhile at the press centre, I spoke to Monica Puig, who crashed out 6-1, 6-1 to Sam Stosur, and she was in tears. It's been an emotional rollercoaster for her. One day she's lifting a trophy in Strasbourg, the next she's a first round loser in Paris. Chin up, Pica!

    16:51 Announcement just made: the last matches on Courts 1,2,5,6,10,14,16 & 17 are all canceled. No Sloane, Sveta, Giorgi, nor Cirstea today.

    16:20 Rain briefly halts play but Djokovic and Sousa stay on court. The world No2 invited the ball boy carrying his umbrella to join him on the bench and offered him a Perrier.

    **Big news coming from Nikolay Davydenko… Stay tuned!

    15:29 Covers are off and courts are getting ready for play to resume. We've got Djokovic on Chatrier, Gilles Simon on Lenglen, Julien Benneteau on Court 1, Nicolas Mahut on Court 2, David Goffin and Jurgen Melzer on Court 3 and much more…

    14:52 It's really coming down now. Play suspended on all courts. Djokovic had raced to a 4-0 lead but got broken in the fifth game right before the players were ushered off court. Umbrellas everywhere!

    13:47 It's raining quite steadily now. Play continues on the outside courts but Novak Djokovic and his coach Boris Becker are standing in the Chatrier tunnel, waiting to here news on the start time of the Serb's match with Joao Sousa.

    13:33 No9 seed Kei Nishikori is down 6-7, 0-3 to Martin Klizan. Japanese media here tell us he's not fit and he would have pulled out of the tournament had it not been Roland Garros. It's the same lower back problem that bothered him in Madrid and forced him out of Rome. 

    13:27 Sharapova is through to the second round with a 6-1, 6-1 61-minute rout of Pervak. The 2012 champion hit 17 winners and 17 unforced errors. Italian Flavia Pennetta also through while Sabine Lisicki tries to serve for the match for a second time after getting broken at 6-1, 5-4 against French 17-year-old world No416 Fiona Ferro.

    13:16 It took Pervak 12 games to hit her first winner against Sharapova. She trails the No7 seed 1-6 1-4 now on Philippe Chatrier. Pervak turns 23 tomorrow by the way (Tuesday). I know what we can get her. A new kit!!

    ** One to keep an eye on: French 19-year-old Laurent Lokoli, who qualified to his first French Open and was a big hit on Kids' Day when he had that incredible dance-off with Gael Monfils, tells us "I was praying, praying to be against Roger Federer for the first round. You know, you want to play against your idol."

    12:50 Spain's Albert Montanes suffers a bad fall and twists his ankle which forces him to retire only four games into his opener against France's Kenny de Schepper. Terrible luck for the Spaniard, who made the fourth round in Paris in 2011.

    **So what does everyone think of Rafael Nadal getting scheduled on Suzanne Lenglen for his first match. He's an eight-time champion, four-time defending champion and the world No1… John Isner called it "bizarre". Funniest thing though was Isner telling us Robby Ginepri (Rafa's opponent today) woke up at 8:00am the other day to practice on Philippe Chatrier, assuming that's where the match would be scheduled.**

    12:38 Maria Sharapova kicks off proceedings on Philippe Chatrier against her compatriot Ksenia Pervak. The lesser-known Russian showed up in the wrong outfit though… this isn't paintball, Ksenia!

    11:00 Day Two begins in typical Parisien fashion – it's raining! We're told play should commence later in the day. I'll keep you informed…

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