Paris (AFP)

The nightmare continues for Kristina Mladenovic: after the US Open where she cracked in the 2nd round and was banned from participating in the doubles tournament due to the Covid protocol, it was in the 1st round that the Frenchwoman, 44th in the world, was eliminated Tuesday at Roland Garros by the German Laura Siegemund (66th) 7-5, 6-3.

Mladenovic led 5-1 in the first set and got seven set points.

She had even converted the first, but the referee did not see that the ball had doubled, that is to say bounced twice, in the camp of Siegemund and the German refrained from saying it.

In the next round, Siegemund will face her compatriot Julia Goerges (41st) or the American Alison Riske (23rd).

At Flushing Meadows during the last US Open, in the second round against Russian Varvara Gracheva (102nd), Mladenovic was leading 6-1, 5-1 serve to follow and seemed to be heading for an easy victory.

But despite four match points at 5-2, she lost 1-6, 7-6, 6-0.

Tuesday in Paris, the 27-year-old easily broke away 5-1 in the first set and got a set point.

On a refereeing error, the round continued and Mladenovic obtained another six set points, but without succeeding in converting a single one.

And it was Siegemund who concluded the first set with his first set point by lining up six games in a row.

The specter of the US Open then came to prowl the Philippe-Chatrier court.

Especially since Siegemund won a 7th game in a row at the start of the second set, but Mladenovic stopped the bleeding to tie it at 1-1.

- As in Australia -

The face hollow, the French saved a break point at 3-2 and continued to return to 3-3, but it was only to postpone the deadline a little: Siegemund broke to lead 5-3, serve for the match and win.

Mladenovic, eliminated in the 1st round at the Australian Open by Karolina Pliskova, has never passed the 2nd round in 10 tournaments this year.

In New York, after his sinking on the court, Mladenovic had completely cracked psychologically, and admitted how much the health bubble weighed on him, especially since she had been placed under reinforced surveillance after having been declared a contact case of Benoît Paire.

The latter had himself been excluded from the tournament for testing positive for coronavirus before the start of the competition.

"It's a nightmare what we live there. I have only one desire, it is to find my freedom. I would like so much to say a lot of things about what is happening here, it is absolutely abominable how they treat us, but I don't want that to be an excuse for my defeat, "she said after her elimination.

Confined to her hotel room with no possibility of leaving even though she had never tested positive, Mladenovic was then prevented from leaving her room to play the doubles tournament with her teammate and friend Timea Babos.

She had left the hotel and the United States only after the confinement period imposed by health authorities in Nassau County, in which New York is located.

© 2020 AFP