Same Old (Short) Story for Ivanisevic : French Open: Croatian loses in first round of third consecutive Grand Slam event.

The temperamental Goran Ivanisevic, the French Open’s fourth-seeded player, appeared to adopt the dark clouds that hovered over Roland Garros on Tuesday as a personal symbol.

With barely a whimper, which came after the match, he was the highest-seeded player among three eliminated on the tournament’s second day. After losing his first-round match in straight sets to the 142nd-ranked player in the world, Ivanisevic spoke of breaking all of his rackets and quitting professional tennis.

This is the third Grand Slam tournament in a row in which the supremely talented but highly inconsistent Croatian has been ousted in the first round, while winning only one set.

His 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 loss to Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden was interrupted three times by rain. The rain--sometimes coming in the form of a downpour and sometimes sweeping in as more of a mist--caused French Open officials to postpone 16 singles matches and rendered the red clay a sludgy, viscous mess.

Two seeded women also found the day disagreeable. No. 10 Natasha Zvereva of Belarus lost to No. 160 Catalina Cristea of Romania, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, and No. 13 Mary Joe Fernandez of Miami lost to No. 173 Paola Suarez of Argentina, 6-4, 6-3.

Ivanisevic, 23, was familiarly disconsolate after the match. He called the match the worst of his life, but the mercurial player has said that before of lesser defeats. Intelligent and reflective in the best of circumstances, he had no clues about what led to his unraveling Tuesday.

“Nothing happened,” he said, rarely looking up while speaking to the media after the loss. “I didn’t play today. I played so bad, and he played good tennis. He deserved to win. I didn’t do anything there.”

He hastened his own demise by playing passively, despite serving 17 aces. He did not approach the net once, where his 6-foot-4 frame would have cut down most of the court for Tillstrom.

Instead, he pushed shot after shot to the center line, where Tillstrom had plenty of time to linger before deciding where to place his shots.

Ivanisevic failed to convert on six break-point chances. The Swede held one match point before the third rain delay, and Ivanisevic held off two more before succumbing.

Tillstrom, aware of Ivanisevic’s reputation for inconsistency, said he feared that at any moment the tenor of the match could change.

“It is always tough to play a player like Goran because suddenly he starts to play really well,” Tillstrom said. “I mean, he gets his first serve in and he goes for a few winners. Then he gets a break. You have to be concentrated all the time because you never know when the match is going to turn.”

Zvereva has become the Ivanisevic of the women’s tour. Her promise is great, but so is her propensity to take mental hikes during matches. Tuesday, she won the first set in 32 minutes, then lost her way.

Fernandez lost her health before she lost her match. After playing at Indian Wells in February, she came down with pneumonia. Since then, she has been sick, on and off.

“My priority right now is to stay healthy,” she said. “If I can do that, hopefully, it is just a matter of time before I get my fitness and my confidence in playing and winning matches.”