Shoulder trouble left her with no choice but to pull out of the tournament on Monday.

Her withdrawal leaves the event without its women’s singles top two seeds after two-time winner Zoe Hives from Ballarat withdrew with hip problems.

Despite the setback, Ramialison will stay on in Ballarat to cheer on her coach and partner Vincent Stouff, who is also from France, where he maintains a busy tournament schedule on the domestic circuit.

Stouff, 32, is on his second visit to the city, having contested a tournament at Ballarat Regional Tennis Centre five years ago.

The Frenchman, who is ranked 69 in his home country, carries plenty of confidence into the event, being fresh from taking out the singles title in Bendigo’s Rising Sun Summer AMT.

He was the top seed in Bendigo, but is not seeded in Ballarat.

Stouff has also won the South Pacific Open at Ulladulla in south-west New South Wales and Cairns Open this year.

“I’m in good touch,” Stouff said.

Ramialison said she was extremely disappointed she was unable to play.

She said she had been treated by a physiotherapist, but was unable to serve.

Ramialison said while she had first had some minor issues with the shoulder a few weeks ago, she had not envisaged it would worsen to this degree.

She will now focus on getting right for tournaments In South Australia and Tasmania early in the new year.

BRTC’s Rob Benoit said the loss of Ramialison and Hives had changed the complexion of the women’s singles, given it was so rare to lose the top two seeds. He said it certainly opened up the draw. 

Players hit the courts on Tuesday with men’s and women’s open singles qualifying matches, and boys’ 18/under singles qualifiers.

These will continue on Wednesday, with the bulk of the main draws, which also featured 18/under girls’s singles beginning on Thursday.  The event runs until Saturday.