No Australian man has made the French Open singles second round for only the second time in almost 70 years.
Women’s big guns Ashleigh Barty, Samantha Stosur and Daria Gavrilova must fly the flag after Australia’s Davis Cup stars suffered just their second first-round wipe-out in Paris since 1949.
Nick Kyrgios’s 11th-hour withdrawal with an elbow injury and a wretched draw for his support cast conspired to deliver the disastrous showing.
The forgettable display is a repeat of Wimbledon last year, when Australia endured its equal-worst men’s campaign since World War II.
The last time Australia’s men fired a blank at Roland Garros was 2011 when Bernard Tomic was flying solo in the singles draw and lost to Argentine Carlos Berlocq in the opening round.
Teenage wildcard Alex de Minaur was the last Australian man to fall, the 19-year-old succumbing 6-2 6-4 6-3 to British 16th seed Kyle Edmund.
De Minaur joined Bernard Tomic, Jordan Thompson, Matt Ebden, John Millman and James Duckworth in failing to progress past round one.
Australian No.1 Nick Kyrgios didn’t even start after withdrawing on the eve of his much-anticipated first-time confrontation with Tomic with an elbow injury.
It was left to Barty, Stosur and Gavrilova to save Australia’s blushes.
Barty, the 17th seed, blasted past Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva 6-3 6-1 in just 64 minutes to set up a showcourt blockbuster with returning legend Serena Williams.
Making her grand-slam comeback following the birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia last September, Williams overcame dangerous Czech Kristyna Pliskova 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in a shootout between two of the biggest servers in the game.
Stosur powered into the second round for the 12th straight year with a 6-2 6-4 victory over former US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer.
Unseeded for the first time in Paris for the first time in a decade, Stosur clubbed 21 winners, five aces and broke Wickmayer five times in another typically strong start to her 14th Open campaign.
The four-time semi-finalist and 2010 runner-up’s victory set up a second-round clash with her doubles partner, Russian 30th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
A third-round showdown with 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza looms large after the Spanish third seed also scored an impressive straight-sets victory on Tuesday – 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 over 2009 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Gavrilova battled back from a set and a service break down to defeat Romanian Sorana Cirstea 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 for her first win at Roland Garros in three years.
The 24th seed Gavrilova next plays American Bernarda Pera.
Victories for Barty, Stosur and Gavrilova finally restored some pride to Australian tennis following the mass exodus of the men, as well as Ajla Tomljanovic on day one.
Earlier on Tuesday, Millman lost 7-5 6-4 6-2 to Canadian prodigy Denis Shapovalov after holding service breaks in the first two sets on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Continuing his comeback from foot surgery, Duckworth put up a fight against third seed Marin Cilic before bowing out 6-3 7-5 7-6 (7-4) to the 2018 Australian Open finalist and 2017 Wimbledon runner-up.
And resuming his match that was suspended at two sets a piece on Monday night due to thunderstorms, Ebden eventually lost 6-4 5-7 6-2 3-6 6-2 to Italian Thomas Fabbiano.
Women’s wildcard Isabelle Wallace’s grand-slam main-draw debut lasted just 52 minutes with the 21-year-old crashing to a 6-1 6-0 loss to Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck.