French Open Day 2 highlights: Stephens ousts Venus

Sloane Stephens defeated 15th-seeded Venus Williams
in the first round. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   Match of the day -- Sloane Stephens dispatched fellow American Venus Williams, seeded 15th, 7-6 (5), 6-1 in the first round. It was Williams' second opening-round loss in three years at Roland Garros. Stephens has plunged from a career-high No. 11 in the world in 2013 to 40th.
   Upset of the day -- Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia surprised 11th-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3. Lopez, ranked a career-high No. 12 at 33 years old, suffered is 10th first-round loss in 15 French Open appearances.
   Notable -- Annika Beck of Germany eliminated 14th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, the 2012 Wimbledon runner-up, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. ... No. 2 seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova, suffering from a cold, coughed repeatedly during her 6-2, 6-4 win over Kaia Kanepi. 
   Men's seeded winners -- No. 3 Andy Murray, No. 4 Tomas Berdych, No. 12 Gilles Simon, No. 13 Gael Monfils, No. 17 David Goffin, No. 18 Tommy Robredo, No. 21 Pablo Cuevas, No. 27 Bernard Tomic, No. 28 Fabio Fognini, No. 29 Nick Kyrgios, No. 31 Viktor Troicki, No. 32 Fernando Verdasco.
   Men's seeded losers -- No. 11 Lopez, No. 30 Adrian Mannarino.
   Women's seeded winners -- No. 2 Sharapova, No. 8 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 11 Angelique Kerber, No. 12 Karolina Pliskova, No. 17 Sara Errani, No. 19 Elina Svitolina, No. 26 Sam Stosur, No. 27 Victoria Azarenka, No. 29 Alize Cornet, No. 30 Irina-Camelia "Ain't Too Proud To" Begu.
   Women's seeded losers -- No. 14 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 15 Venus Williams, No. 22 Barbora Strycova.
   U.S. men's winners -- None. 
   U.S. men's losers -- Sam Querrey, Donald Young, Frances Tiafoe (17 years old).
   U.S. women's winner -- Sloane Stephens.
   U.S. women's losers -- No. 15 Venus Williams, Madison Brengle, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Alison Riske, Nicole Gibbs.
   Fast fact -- Stephens joined Lindsay Davenport as the only Americans to have beaten Serena and Venus Williams in a Grand Slam tournament, the Associated Press reported. Stephens knocked off Serena en route to the semifinals of the 2013 Australian Open.
   Northern California connection -- All three players with NorCal ties in action today lost. Querrey, a San Francisco native, fell to 18-year-old rising star Borna Coric of Croatia 7-6 (8), 6-3, 0-6, 6-3. Gibbs, a former Stanford star making her French Open debut, succumbed to Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-3, 6-1. And Jarmila Gajdosova of the Sacramento-based California Dream in World TeamTennis dropped a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 decision to French wild card Amandine Hesse. ... Stephens is coached by Nick Saviano, a two-time All-American at Stanford in the 1970s.
   Quote -- Saviano on Stephens, according to the AP: "I want her to play with a sense of joy ... and play everything as well as she can, relentlessly, and not be concerned with the result. Let the result take care of itself. And she did a good job of that today."