Victoria Azarenka’s unhappy French Open campaign is over after the former world No.1 was beaten 6-2 6-2 by Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the second round.
Belarussian 10th seed Azarenka, who moaned about the cold and damp conditions in her opening round win, capitulated in feeble fashion against her 161st-ranked opponent on Wednesday.
Schmiedlova, who is playing with a protected ranking after knee surgery in 2019, has enjoyed a stunning return to form in Paris, having beaten Venus Williams in round one.
That win over Williams ended a run of 12 consecutive first-round losses for Schmiedlova in grand slams and she backed that up with a commanding display against an error-prone Azarenka.
Third-seeded Elina Svitolina recovered from a mid-match meltdown to defeat fearless qualifier Renata Zarazua 6-3 0-6 6-2 and advance to the third round.
The 178th-ranked Zarazua, who became the first Mexican woman to win a grand slam main draw match in more than 20 years in the first round, came into the contest having never facing a top-20 player
She made a nervous start on her 23rd birthday under the closed roof of Court Philippe Chatrier but forced Svitolina to dig deep to take out the match.
The Ukrainian was almost reduced to tears during Zarazua’s dominant period.
“Well, honestly I’m still questioning myself because I was a bit of a drop” she told reporters.
“I don’t remember much of the second set. Also maybe I was dreaming today,
“It’s very tough to say. I was going maybe for too much.”
Svitolina has now made the third round at Roland Garros for the sixth straight year and will next meet Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated Australian Astra Sharma 6-3 6-3.
Teenager Amanda Anisimova muscled her way into the next round with a 6-2 6-0 demolition of fellow American Bernarda Pera.
The 25th seed, whose match was moved to court Philippe Chatrier after Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament with an injury, was barely bothered as she set up a meeting with top seed Simona Halep or another Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.
Anisimova beat Halep in straight sets in the quarter-finals last year.
