French Open: No. 9 Venus Williams stunned in Round One

USA's Venus Williams returns to China's Wang Qiang during their French Open first round match in Paris yesterday. Pics/AFP

Former world number one Venus Williams suffered a shock defeat by Chinese player Wang Qiang in the French Open first round yesterday. The 37-year-old ninth seed was well short of her best as Wang claimed a 6-4, 7-5 victory and gained a measure of revenge for her first-round loss to Venus at Roland Garros last year.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion has now lost both her matches at major tournaments this year, having reached the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals in 2017. Wang, the world number 91, has never made the third round of a Slam, and will face Petra Martic of Croatia for a place in the last 32 after the biggest win of her career. World number nine Venus will now turn her attention to playing the doubles tournament with her sister Serena, who is competing in a Grand Slam event for the first time since last year's Australian Open after giving birth to her daughter.

China's Qiang Wang celebrates her win over Venus Williams

Champ Ostapenko ousted
Meanwhile, Latvia's fifth seed Jelena Ostapenko became only the second defending champion to lose in the first round of Roland Garros when she slumped to a shock 7-5, 6-3 defeat by Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine on Sunday. Russia's Anastasia Myskina was the only other defending champion to lose in the first round in the Open era in 2005. Kozlova, World No. 66, will face either former world number one Victoria Azarenka or Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic for a place in the last 32.

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