KEY POINTS:
Marina Erakovic's match preparations for next week's French Open took a blow when she was knocked out in the first round of the singles at the Istanbul Cup women's tennis event today.
The New Zealander was beaten 6-7 3-6 by Marta Domachowska of Poland in the WTA Tier 3 US$200,000 ($261,711) tournament.
Erakovic will play the doubles first round tonight.
The New Zealand No 1 was also eliminated in the first round of a WTA grand prix women's tennis tournament in Fes, Morocco three weeks ago, losing 2-6 6-3 6-2 to 98th ranked Romanian Sorana Cirstea.
The French Open begins on May 26 at Roland Garros. Erakovic, with a world ranking of 84, will be the first New Zealander to play in a Grand Slam tournament since Pavlina Nola at the 2002 Australian Open.
- NZPA
