Tennis: Australian Open champion Li beaten at French Open

(Updated 8:40pm) PARIS - Australian Open champion Li Na, of China, was knocked out of the French Open in the first round when she suffered a 7-5 3-6 6-1 defeat against France's Kristina Mladenovic on Tuesday.

Second seed Li, who won at Roland Garros in 2011, looked impotent on court Suzanne Lenglen on another chilly day in Paris, following men's Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka to the Roland Garros exit door.

World number 103 Mladenovic, who won the juniors' title in Paris in 2009, will next face American Alison Riske, looking to make it past the second round on home clay for the first time.

Once dubbed the next big thing of French women's tennis, Mladenovic saved two set points in the opener, lost focus in the second but stepped up a gear again in the decider to wrap it up on her second match point.

"It's incredible, without you I would not have done it," a tearful Mladenovic told the crowd.

"When such a player comes back in the match, you know you will have to seize every opportunity. I have been working hard."

The 21-year-old Mladenovic, who has two mixed-doubles grand-slam titles to her name with Canadian Daniel Nestor, traded breaks twice with Li early on, and after saving two set points at 5-4 she went on to break again and clinch the set when her opponent's forehand sailed long after just over an hour's play.

She could not sustain the rhythm in the second set, which Li comfortably bagged following an early break.

Mladenovic broke Li to love in the fourth game of the decider and never looked back, raising her arms in celebration after just over two hours on court, when the Chinese's forehand went long once again.

In the men's draw, 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov, one of the young players expected to challenge the likes of champion Rafa Nadal in Paris, found the service of giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic too hot to handle. The 11th seed was beaten 6-4 7-5 7-6(4).

Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm, the older stateswoman of the WTA Tour at 43, saved four match points but still went down 6-3 0-6 6-2 to 24th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian 27th seed and 2009 French Open champion, eased through 6-3 6-1 against Georgia's Sofia Shapatava. Romanian 26th seed Sorana Cirstea beat Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak 6-7(3) 7-5 6-2.  - Reuters