World No3 Stanislas Wawrinka was at a loss for words as he tried to explain his first round shock defeat to Guillermo Garcia Lopez, while top two seeds Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic both advanced to the last 64 unscathed.
Wawrinka, who was bidding to become the first player since Jim Courier in 1992 to win the Australian-French Open double within the same season, fell 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 to Spaniard Garcia Lopez.
The Swiss is the first Australian Open champion to lose in the first round of the subsequent Roland Garros since Petr Korda in 1998.
Wawrinka had a good start, breaking for a 3-1 lead but Garcia Lopez struck back and snuck away with the set, which saw 16 unforced errors from the Swiss.
The 29-year-old again squandered an early break in the second set but held on this time to level the match. But Garcia Lopez was unfazed and he cruised in the next two sets which saw a combined 29 unforced errors from Wawrinka.
“The match wasn't good at all. I was trying to find my game,” said a visibly dejected Wawrinka after the loss. “I don't have all the answers for why I didn't play that good. I feel I need to take a few days off to see exactly what's happen.
“It's a tough loss. Sometimes you need to have a tough one to see exactly where you want to go and how you're going to do it.”
Wawrinka revealed he felt fit and had been practicing well but he refused to attribute the defeat to nerves and declared that he needed to go back to the drawing board and figure out his next move.
“Now it's a different picture for my career. I need to put the puzzle back together, but differently than in the past, because now it's after winning a Grand Slam, a Masters 1000 and being No3 in the world. Everything is different and I still didn't find all the pieces,” he added.
The tournament lost another top-10 seed in the form of Japan's Kei Nishikori, who was hindered by a lingering back injury during his 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-2 to dangerous lefty Martin Klizan.
"I'm actually happy that I finished the match," said the No9 seed. "I was really disappointed that my performance was ‑ I mean, not very bad, but it wasn't perfect match for me today.
"And, I mean, I didn't have much practice. I knew this is going to be happen. But, I was able to finish the match.
"I was playing well on clay in Europe, so it's very sad for me to lose first round here."
Earlier on Court Suzanne Lenglen, if Nadal had any demons to banish heading into the French Open, then the way he crushed Robby Ginepri in the first round was probably the perfect way to do it.
The four-time defending champion cruised to a 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 win over Ginepri, who was making his first appearance at Roland Garros since 2010.
The rain interrupted play many times during the day and Nadal admits he thought he wasn’t going to get his first round out of the way yesterday.
But he only needed 102 minutes of dry weather to skip past his American opponent and book a second round with rising star Dominic Thiem.
“I won this round, but it was a bit difficult because of the weather, but it was very important for me because it gave me the opportunity of having a two days break so that I can practice. That's always positive,” said Nadal.
Djokovic, the 2012 runner-up also enjoyed a routine win, taking out Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. The world No2 was broken twice towards the end of the match but quickly overcame the blip to set up a second round with home favourite Jeremy Chardy.
The No2 seed was not too happy with the state of the court, suggesting it should have been covered sooner.
"I think the chair umpire should have made a decision earlier to take us off the court and cover the court. I'm talking for the court's sake for a good condition, because it was a lot of rain," said Djokovic.
"I know that on clay, of course, we can play with certain, I guess, level of rain, but still it's not that great for the court's condition."
