Paris (AFP)
Italian Fabio Fognini, seeded N.14 at Roland Garros, failed in the first round against Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin, winner 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-0 Monday.
Very solid at the service (78% of first balls), Kukushkin will face in the second round, his best result at Roland Garros, the qualified Pedro Martinez.
The Spaniard beat another qualifier, Australia's Aleksandar Vukic.
Operated on both ankles in the spring, in full confinement, Fognini, 33, is looking for his best level, he who has only won since resuming the circuit a match in 4 contested tournaments.
In Kitzbühel, Rome and Hamburg as in Paris, Fognini nevertheless played on clay, his preferred surface (210 wins for 146 defeats now).
Winner of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 in 2019, beating Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, Fognini is one of the 4 players (with Djokovic, Gaudio and Thiem) to count 3 victories on clay against Mallorcan, king of Roland Garros.
He reached the quarter-finals in Paris in 2011.
Another seed in difficulty in recent weeks also packed on Monday: the young Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (22nd in the world), beaten by the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka.
The 20-year-old world tennis prospect fell short in the first round in Rome and the second round in Hamburg.
© 2020 AFP