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Samantha Stosur has gone down in a fighting three-set loss to power-hitter Ekaterina Alexandrova in the French Open second round.

Samantha Stosur looks set to drop out of the world's top 100 after the veteran's remarkable decade-long French Open run was halted by powerful Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round.

Stosur had made at least the third round in her last 10 visits to Roland Garros, a streak only matched on the Paris clay among active players by Maria Sharapova.

She looked set to extend that after racing to a one-set lead before the world No.58's booming groundstrokes found their range in a gutsy 3-6 6-1 6-4 win.

A top-100 fixture since 2004, Stosur is forecast to drop 12 places to 108 ahead of the grass season - right on the cusp of the automatic qualification zone for grand slams.

The 35-year-old stamped her authority early, mixing backhand slice with sharply-angled returns to race ahead 4-0.

The Australian wasn't without her own struggles though, saving nine break points on her delivery in the first set.

Alexandrova finally pegged back a break with her 10th opportunity before Stosur bombed an easy volley into the net to burn her first set point.

But a brilliant running forehand winner set up a second set point and Stosur didn't repeat the mistake.

Chasing a maiden third round appearance, the 24-year-old Alexandrova found her range, hammering away from both wings to break Stosur twice in a one-sided second set.

Errors started to creep into Stosur's game, with 41 in total compared to just 28 off her rival's racquet.

The Russian broke the former world No.4 again to begin the third set but Stosur didn't let the match slip away, holding a trio of long service games as the contest tightened entering a third hour.

Her opponent stuck to the method though, blasting from both sides and falling to knees in glee when Stosur's volley missed on match point.