Two of the favorites going into the French Open were knocked out on day two as players contrived to make sure that the drama missing on the opening day was more than made up for on the second.
Kei Nishikori, the tenth seed, lost 6-7, 1-6, 2-6 to Martin Klizan. Nishikori had played the tournament of his career in Madrid before injury forced him to retire in the final versus Nadal. He skipped Rome, and it seemed an inhibited Nishikori had not fully recovered from his ailment.
Stanislas Wawrinka, the third seed, had had an up and down clay season, winning in Monte Carlo and then going out early in Rome and Madrid, But the 2014 Australian Open Champion and 2013 French Open quarter-finalist was expected to bring his best to the best of five set format of a Major. He could not though, and his opponent Garcia-Lopez, the Casablanca winner and Monte-Carlo quarter finalist, smelled the chance of an upset and breathed it right in, beating Wawrinka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0, coming back from 1-3 down in the first.
In hindsight, Wawrinka and Nishikori were two of the more vulnerable top seeds and they could not have had tougher opponents: Klizan is the recent Munich Champion and a former top 30 player who has knocked the likes of Tsonga out of the U.S Open; Garcia-Lopez has career victories over Murray and Nadal and an attacking game that can stand up to anyone on its day.
Unfortunately for Nishikori and Wawrinka, both their opponents had their day on a wet one in Paris and dampened the spirits of the sizable Wawrinka and Nishikori fan bases. Both men will now have a couple of weeks to lick their wounds and start preparing for Wimbledon, where considering their poor records at the event and their shock losses in Paris, they will face opponents armed with salt ready to see if those wounds still sting.
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