Cornet crumbles in Strasbourg, Nara suffers upset
There was disappointment for Alize Cornet and Kurumi Nara in Strasbourg, both of whom suffered first-round exits to lower ranked opponents.
Alize Cornet exited the Stasbourg International in the first round at the hands of qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva, bowing out 1-6 6-2 6-4.
The ninth seed breezed to a first-set lead, winning both break points that came her way, but Kudryavtseva fought back in style in her first main draw appearance of the season.
Cornet's service game crumbled and the world number 184 took full advantage, seeing out a surprise triumph against a player ranked 135 places above her in one hour and 45 minutes.
Kurumi Nara suffered an upset against qualifier Jil Belen Teichmann – ranked 286 places below the Japanese – with the Tunisian securing a 2-6 7-5 6-1 triumph.
Kristina Mladenovic required three sets to dispatch of Madison Brengle, clawing the decider back from 5-4 down to win 6-4 2-6 7-5.
Next up for the French star is Alison Riske, who breezed beyond Alize Lim 6-0 7-5.
In the day's only other match, Hsieh Su-wei dismissed qualifier Xu Yi-fan 6-3 6-1.