Serena beaten in first round

Beaten: Serena Williams reacts during her 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 first-round loss to Virginie Razzano at the French Open on Tuesday. AP

PARIS — For more than a decade, whatever the state of her health or her game, no matter the opponent or arena, Serena Williams always won first-round matches at Grand Slam tournaments.

Giant-killer: Virginie Razzano plays a shot against Serena Williams at Roland Garros on Tuesday. AP

Always.

Until Tuesday at the French Open. Until Williams came within two points of victory nine times, yet remarkably failed to close the deal against unheralded and 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano of France.

Until a theatrical, 23-minute final game filled with 30 points, more than enough to fill an entire set, featuring ebbs and flows, high-pressure shotmaking and nerves — and even thunderous protests from the crowd when the chair umpire docked Razzano a point. That look-away-and-you-miss-something game included five wasted break points for Williams, and seven match points that she saved, until Razzano finally converted her eighth, 3 hours and 3 minutes after they began playing.

All told, until Tuesday, Williams was 46 for 46 in openers at tennis' top venues, and those encounters tended to be routine and drama-free, befitting a woman so good that the goal — and 13 times, the end result — was a major championship.

Not this time. Now Williams' first-round Grand Slam record is 46-1 after as stunning a denouement as could be in a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 loss to Razzano on the red clay at Roland Garros.

The fifth-seeded Williams, considered by many a pre-tournament favorite, led 5-1 in the second-set tiebreaker, before dropping the next 13 points in a row.

"I've been through so much in my life, and . . . I'm not happy, by no means," said Williams, her eyes welling with tears. "I just always think things can be worse."

The 30-year-old American returned to action last year after missing about 10 months because of a series of health scares, including two foot operations and blood clots, a scary stretch she says altered her worldview.

The rowdy spectators in Court Philippe Chatrier chanting Razzano's first name would have been pulling for her anyway, of course, because of her citizenship. But their support was particularly strong because of her recent heartbreak, well-known in France: Razzano's fiance — Stephane Vidal, also her longtime coach — died at age 32 of a brain tumor in May 2011, a little more than a week before her first-round match at last year's French Open.

He had encouraged her to go ahead and enter the tournament, so she did, honoring his memory by stepping on court to play, a black ribbon pinned to her shirt. When she walked out of the locker room for what turned out to be a straight-set loss, she wore a gold chain that Vidal had given her as a Valentine's Day gift a few years earlier.

"Honestly, the past is the past," Razzano said Tuesday. "I think now I did my mourning. I feel good today. It took time."

Said Williams: "I know of her story and her husband. We all have stories. I mean, I almost died, and Venus is struggling herself. So, you know, it's life. You know, it just depends on how you deal with it. She obviously is dealing with it really well."

Defending men's champion Rafael Nadal had no such trouble, starting his quest for a record seventh French Open title by beating Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. Maria Sharapova had an even easier time, scoring a "double bagel" in her 6-0, 6-0 win over Alexandra Cadantu of Romania.

PARIS — Forty-one-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm's hopes of becoming the oldest player to win at the French Open in the professional era were crushed Tuesday with a first-round defeat to Italian 14th-seed Francesca Schiavone.

Schiavone, the 2010 champion at Roland Garros and runnerup to China's Li Na last year, was never in serious danger against the Japanese former world No. 4, prevailing 6-3, 6-1 in 74 minutes to move into the second round.

"I didn't completely fall apart after losing the eighth game (in the first set), but I couldn't make any headway," said Date-Krumm. "I couldn't put her in a corner and I'm not even half satisfied with the way I played."

It was not all bad news for Japan, though, as Ayumi Morita came from behind to win her opening match for the second year in a row, beating 39th-ranked Polona Hercoq of Slovenia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

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