Rain has forced the suspension of play at the French Open and the outlook remains especially gloomy for Australia’s singles contingent in Paris.
After a none-from-four start for Australia, Daria Gavrilova, John Millman and James Duckworth have all dropped the opening set in their respective first-round encounters as they fight to restore some battered pride at Roland Garros.
Gavrilova trails Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-4 2-1 in a niggly affair on Court 5.
Gavrilova received a code violation for racquet abuse after dropping serve for a fourth time to fall behind 2-0 in the second set.
But the 24th seed broke straight back and was serving at 40-30 when play was halted.
Millman got off to a flyer against men’s 24th seed Denis Shapovalov on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, racing to a 5-2 lead in the first set against the Canadian prodigy.
He blew a set point when serving at 5-3 as Shapovalov won five consecutive games to snatch the set in a body blow to the Queensland underdog.
Millman regrouped to break Shapovalov again early in the second set, establishing a 3-1 advantage.
Alas, he gifted the break straight back with his second doube-fault before the pair walked off court with the Canadian ahead 7-5 2-3 onserve.
Continuing his comeback from foot surgery, Duckworth was putting up a fight against third seed Marin Cilic, the 2018 Australian Open finalist and 2017 Wimbledon runner-up, on Roland Garros’s centrecourt.
But he dropped serve in the crucial ninth game of the second set and Cilic will serve at 6-3 5-4 for a two-sets-to-love lead when play resumes.
Former champion Samantha Stosur and Matt Ebden are faring a little better.
Stosur has her nose ahead 3-2 on serve in her opener against big-hitting Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.
Ebden and Italian Thomas Fabbiano will square off in a deciding one-set shoot when play continues at 4-6 7-5 2-6 6-3 after thunderstorms on Monday night forced the suspension of their first-rounc clash on day two.
Australian wildcards Alex de Minaur and Isabelle Wallace along with 17th seed Ashleigh Barty also open their campaigns on Tuesday night, weather permitting.
Eight Australians in action on day three are hoping to avoid suffering the same fate as Bernard Tomic, Jordan Thompson and Ajla Tomljanovic, who all bombed out in round one.