Belgian tennis players knocked out of French Open

Kirsten Flipkens and Yanina Wickmayer only made it to the second round of the French Open in Roland Garros, Paris, before both being knocked out yesterday.

Flipkens, ranked 22nd in the world, surprisingly succumbed 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to Israel’s Julia Glushko, who is currently ranked only 98. Flipkens (pictured) had earlier beaten Danka Kovinic from Montenegro 7-6, 6-2 in the first round.

Wickmayer, currently at 64 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, also fell to a lower-ranked player, losing 6-2, 6-4 to number 85, Silvia Soler-Espinosa from Spain. Wickmayer came into the match on the back of an impressive first-round victory over former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, the 13th-seeded Dane, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2.

Alison Van Uytvanck, from Grimbergen, taking part in only her second major, earlier lost her first-round match to Austria’s Tamira Paszek 6-2, 7-6.

Photo: Vincent Kessler/Reuters