Safina ousted from French Open

PARIS, May 25 (UPI) -- Dinara Safina, who lost the finals in the tournament each of the last two years, was a first-round loser Tuesday at the French Open.

Safina, the No. 9 seed, is 5-6 in 2010 after losing 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to Kimiko Date Krumm. Safina led 4-1 in the third set before Date Krumm fought back. It was Safina's 17th double fault of the day that resulted in a sixth service break, ending the match.

Safina was a finalist in Paris in both 2008 and 2009 but has won only eight of 19 matches since back problems surfaced last year.

No. 22-seeded Justine Henin, who won the French Open three consecutive years before stepping away from the game prior to the 2008 tournament, marked her return to Paris with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Tsvetana Pironkova. Henin piled up 31 winners in the match.

Other matches with high seeds found No. 12 Maria Sharapova beating Ksenia Pervak 6-3, 6-2; No. 13 Marion Bartoli defeating Maria Elena Camerin 6-2, 6-3 and No. 16 Yanina Wickmayer routing Sandra Zahlavova 6-1, 6-1 in 62 minutes.

Also, 18th-seeded Shahar Peer stopped Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-1, 6-4; No. 21 Vera Zvonareva advanced over Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-1; 23rd-seeded Daniela Hantuchova matched Wickmayer's feat with a 6-1, 6-1, 62-minute win over Tamarine Tanasugarn; No. 25 Jie Zheng beat Ekaterina Bychkova 67-5, 6-4; and No. 29 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova topped Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-2.

Unseeded players advancing Tuesday to the second round of the women's competition drew were Kirsten Flipkens, Sybille Bammer, Jill Craybas, Jarmila Groth, Klara Zakopalova, Anastasia Pivovarova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Olivia Sanchez, Anastasia Rodionova and Olga Govortsova.