Shocking early exits at French Open...

May 27, 2015 00:13 IST

Bouchard's woeful run continues with early exit

Canada's Eugenie Bouchard returns a shot during her women's singles match against Kristina Mladenovic of France. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Eugenie Bouchard's mediocre run continued when the sixth-seeded Canadian was knocked out of the French Open 6-4, 6-4 in the first round by local favourite Kristina Mladenovic on Tuesday.
French Open PHOTOS: Djokovic, Serena advance; Venus exits
What slump? Nadal begins pursuit of No 10, all seems normal
Will lady luck shine on Nadal?
Bouchard, dubbed the next big thing of women's tennis last year, arrived in Paris having lost six of her last seven matches and there was no improvement on court Suzanne Lenglen.
The Wimbledon runner-up, who had reached the last four at Roland Garros last year, resisted in the opening set but was completely overwhelmed in the second.
Mladenovic, ranked 44th in the world, struggled to handle the pressure after opening a 5-0 lead in the second set but a strong first serve on match point ensured a second-round meeting with either Czech Klara Koukalova or Montenegro's Danka Kovinic.
Dimitrov downed by Sock in first round

Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov leaves the court after he lost his men's singles first round match against Jack Sock of the United States. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Fit-again Shami available for West Indies match

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami has apparently recovered from his knee injury and is available for India's next ICC World Cup league match against West Indies on March 6.

Shami was rested for India's previous match against United Arab Emirates as a precautionary measure but the Bengal pacer took part in the training activity at the Murdoch University Oval Sports Complex ground, in Perth, on Tuesday.
- The World Cup, as never before on Rediff.com
- VOTE: Who will win the 2015 World Cup?
- Jeffrey Archer to Team India: Don't be Bollywood stars!

He took part in fielding drills and also bowled a bit. In case, Shami is picked in the playing eleven, Bhuvneshwar Kumar might again be sidelined after having made a comeback against the minnows in the last game, where he got a wicket and bowled at a good pace.

"Shami is fit and available for selection," India's media manager R N Baba said.

While there is no update on Bhuvneshwar, the pacer was on Tuesday seen having his ankle heavily strapped as he walked barefoot into the dressing room.

It may be a case of the ankle being taped to protect it from aggravating after having bowled full tilt in the last game. The WACA is a hard ground and a pace bowler's ankle takes more pounding on delivery landing compared to some of the other grounds.

However, it's not clear that whether Bhuvneshwar has again done some damage to his ankles or not but certainly the Indian team management are not taking any chances.