PARIS — While most favorites at the French Open advanced past the first round without issue, two of the brightest young lights of last summer could not on Tuesday.
Eugenie Bouchard — a Canadian who made runs to the semifinals of the Australian Open and the French Open last year, and then reached the final at Wimbledon — lost to Kristina Mladenovic, 6-4, 6-4. It was Bouchard’s first loss in the first round of a Grand Slam event, and she will fall from her current ranking, No. 6, to outside the top 10.
Bouchard’s decline has been precipitous.