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Hidalgo ousts 19th seed Cilic

Paris - Marin Cilic became the first seeded player to be eliminated from the French Open, losing to Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday in the first round.

The 19th-seeded Cilic, who reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, is a former top-10 player. But he had 67 unforced errors in the match and was broken five times.

For Ramirez Hidalgo, it was only his fourth win in 15 Grand Slam tournaments. Besides reaching the fourth round at the 2006 French Open, the Spaniard lost in the first round in each of his other 13 appearances at the four biggest tournaments on the tennis circuit.

"It's my greatest victory this season, that's for sure," the 33-year-old Ramirez Hidalgo said. "I would not say this is the beginning of a new career, because I'm too old for this, but it's a kind of relief."

Seventh-seeded David Ferrer had no such problems, advancing to the second round by defeating Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

No 17 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, No 30 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and No 31 Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine also advanced.

On the women's side, Sam Stosur opened her bid to return to the French Open final by beating Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.

The first seeded women's player to lose was Shahar Peer. The 19th-seeded Israeli lost to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 7-6 (4), 6-1.

No 10 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and No 32 Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria also advanced.

Later, 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was to face Magdalena Rybarikova. On the men's side, No 14 Stanislas Wawrinka was up against French qualifier Augustin Gensse.

The French Open is the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments to start on a Sunday, and there were 32 matches scheduled on eight courts.

Less than an hour before play began, two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt withdrew.

The Australian, who had been one of only five men in the draw with a Grand Slam singles title, has not played since March because of foot surgery. He was replaced by Marc Gicquel, one of nine French men playing on Sunday.

Gicquel lost to Albert Montanes of Spain 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

The four remaining Grand Slam champions in the men's draw are five-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro.

Djokovic, Federer and Del Potro are all expected to play Monday, while Nadal is scheduled to play Tuesday.

Results from the first day of the 2011 French Open at Roland Garros on Sunday (x denotes seeded player):

Men

First Round


David Ferrer (ESP x7) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 6-3, 6-3, 6-1

Kei Nishikori (JPN) bt Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE) 6-1, 6-3, 6-4

Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR x31) bt David Guez (FRA) 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x17) bt Jan Hajek (CZE) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2

Maxime Teixeira (FRA) bt Vincent Millot (FRA) 6-2, 5-7, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-1

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP x30) bt Robert Kendrick (USA) 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3

Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) bt Marin Cilic (CRO x19) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4

Albert Montanes (ESP) bt Marc Gicquel (FRA) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2

Blaz Kavcic (SLO) bt Ernests Gulbis (LAT) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2

Women

First Round

Maria Jose Martinez (ESP) bt Shahar Peer (ISR x19) 7-6 (7/4), 6-1

Rebecca Marino (CAN) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 6-3, 6-3

Lucie Safarova (CZE) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-1, 6-1

Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL x32) bt Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 7-5, 6-3

Gisela Dulko (ARG) bt Irina Falconi (USA) 6-3, 6-4

Simona Halep (ROM) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 6-2, 6-1

Samantha Stosur (AUS x8) bt Iveta Benesova (CZE) 6-2, 6-3

Alize Cornet (FRA) bt Renata Voracovaa (CZE) 6-4, 6-2

Jelena Jankovic (SRB x10) bt Alona Bondarenko (UKR) 6-3, 6-1

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