Schnyder and Mikaelian progress

Patty Schnyder and Marie-Gaïané Mikaelian have cheered Switzerland's tennis fans with opening round victories at the French Open.

Following the early departure of Swiss favourite Roger Federer from the men’s draw on Tuesday at the hands of Morocco’s Hicham Arazi, Schnyder (WTA 24) managed to avoid a similar upset against Venezuelan qualifier Milagros Sequera.

The Swiss women’s number two eased past Sequera (WTA 121) in straight sets (6-3, 6-2) to set up a second round match with either Italy’s Tathiana Garbin (WTA 89) or Croatia’s Silvija Talaja (WTA 85).

Mikaelian fights back

Mikaelian (WTA 53) then dug herself out of difficulty after falling a set behind in her opening round match against Hungarian qualifier Rita Kuti Kis.

Pitted against a player more than 200 places below her in the world rankings, the Lausanne teenager surrendered the first set 4-6, but fought back in style – losing just one more game on the way to a 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory.

Mikaelian is now set to meet Italy’s Francesca Schiavone in the second round.

Gagliardi out

Emmanuelle Gagliardi was unable to follow her compatriots into round two, with the Swiss women’s number four crashing out of her first round encounter with Yugoslav world number nine Jelena Dokic.

The 25-year-old Genevan made an unexpectedly strong start to Wednesday’s match, taking a 2-0 and 4-2 lead over Dokic in the opening set. But the Yugoslav teenager rallied to win through 6-4, 6-2.

Gagliard’s defeat was her fourth in four meetings with Dokic, and her third loss to the Yugoslav on clay.

swissinfo with agencies