Ajla Tomljanović has headlined a dispiriting first-day wipe-out for the Australian challenge at the French Open.

Tomljanović, playing just her second full match in four months after 18 months of injury and surgery setbacks, showed inevitable ring rust after a bright start against 30th seed Dayana Yastremska, eventually being the first of the 11 Australians in singles action at Roland Garros to bow out 3-6 6-3 6-3 on Sunday, admitting she has “a mountain to climb” because she’s not the player she once was.

But she was soon followed by Aleksandar Vukic, whose 6-4 4-6 6-3 7-5 defeat to China’s Zhizhen Zhang was compounded by an injury concern, and an out-of-sorts Jordan Thompson, whose first grand slam since landing his first ATP tournament triumph ended in a 3-6 2-6 0-6 drubbing by German Maximilian Marterer.

Worse was to follow when Chris O’Connell, who has had a solid clay-court season, was reported to have withdrawn from his first-round match against Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic through injury.