Barbora Krejcikova became the latest high-profile name to bow out of the French Open in the first round.
Her defense of the French Open was ended by local hope Diane Parry who surged to a 1-6 6-2 6-3 victory against the second-seeded Czech.
Krejcikova, who defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2021 final to win her maiden Grand Slam title, arrived at Roland Garros without any competitive matches under her belt since February due to an elbow injury.
There were no signs of of an upset as she breezed through the opening set against the 97th-ranked Parry, who was facing a top-10 opponent for the first time in her career.
But soon her lack of match practice showed.
The 19-year-old Parry turned the match on its head by winning the second set as errors and double faults began to creep into Krejcikova’s game.
Krejcikova took a lengthy break after losing the second set and was booed by the partisan French crowd at the Court Philippe Chatrier on her return.
The 26-year-old Czech got an early break in the deciding set but Parry, urged on by the crowd, leveled things at 2-2 and then got the decisive break in the eighth game.
Barbora Krejcikova found the net on match point for her 45th unforced error as Parry completed a remarkable victory with the crowd chanting her name throughout the contest.
