Russian Daniil Medvedev was surprised in the first round of the French Open on Tuesday after losing 6 (5)-7, 7 (8) -6, 6-2, 3-6 and 4-6 ahead of Thiago Seybolt Wild, a Brazilian ranked 172e in the world who was playing only the second game of his career in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.
Seybolt Wild had to go through three qualifying rounds at Roland Garros just to get into the men’s main draw. However, he did not seem intimidated by his opponent on the Philippe-Chatrier court, stringing together winning forehands and maintaining his composure late in the game, en route to victory against the second seed.
“I have watched Daniil play since the beginning of my junior career. It’s always been my dream to play on this kind of ground, against this kind of player… It’s a dream come true,” said Seybolt Wild.
So what was his game plan before the game?
“When I got on the court, I wanted to find my angles first, then get to the net as much as possible, and use my forehand to neutralize his,” explained the Brazilian. It went well. »
For sure.
Seybolt Wild, who bet on a very daring style of play, was rewarded: he dominated Medvedev 69-45 in terms of winners, and 47-15 in forehand.
Medvedev, the US Open champion two years ago, has never been very comfortable on clay — he started his French Open career with an 0-4 record. He has recovered well of late, however, having reached the quarter-finals in Paris in 2021 and the fourth round last year. Moreover, the Russian triumphed on this playing surface in Rome earlier this month.
He just never got to establish his game against Seybolt Wild, in a match that lasted four hours and 15 minutes.
Medvedev, who received treatment for a nosebleed in the third set, did not help himself by committing a career-high 15 double faults.
This tournament is already memorable for Seybolt Wild: before Paris, he had never been able, in eight occasions, to cross the qualifying table of a Grand Slam tournament – in fact, he had only savored a single victory in these circumstances.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ons Jabeur got another chance on the Philippe-Chatrier court, and this time they took it.
A year after being ousted in the first round, seventh-seeded Jabeur edged Lucia Bronzetti 6-4, 6-1. At the same time, she exorcised her demons from the past, and put an end to the doubt that persisted as to the state of one of her calves.
The Tunisian, one of the crowd favorites in Paris, smiled and expressed her relief after her disappointment last year when she lost her flag to Poland’s Magda Linette.
Jabeur will now be able to focus on his real goal: winning the first major title of his career. She was a finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open last year.
The 28-year-old has also struggled with injuries this season. She underwent knee surgery after the Australian Open before being sidelined with a calf injury. She halted her return to play as she faced the noh 1, Iga Świątek, at the clay-court tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, at the end of April, and withdrew from the tournament in Madrid.
“It was difficult for me after Stuttgart,” admitted Jabeur, adding that he had started to find his bearings again.
Jabeur fired 27 winners, Bronzetti only 7, but she also committed 24 unforced errors – an aspect of her game that she will obviously need to work on.
Zverev has turned the page on 2022
For his part, the German Alexander Zverev defeated the South African Lloyd Harris 7-6 (6), 7-6 (0) and 6-1 in his first match on clay in Paris, after being seriously injured to an ankle against Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the tournament last year.
Zverev, the 22e seeded at Roland-Garros, reached the second round by improving his record against Harris to 4-0. The German struggled to regain his former level of play after having to abandon his duel against Nadal due to an ankle injury, before going under the knife. However, he showed progress during the preparatory tournaments for the French Open.
Elsewhere, 16-year-old Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva started her first Grand Slam tournament by beating Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-2, 6-1. Andreeva’s older sister — 18-year-old Erika — lost 2-6, 6-3, 4-6 to Emma Navarro later in the day.
Sixth seed Coco Gauff was slow to find her bearings, but she eventually defeated Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Two seeds, however, left for the ladies on Tuesday: the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (number 25) folded the spine 2-6, 3-6 in front of the French Diane Parry, while the Czech Marie Bouzková (number 31) was surprised 4-6, 6 (5)-7 by China’s Xinyu Wang.
On the other hand, Świątek will start the defense of her title at the end of the day against Cristina Bucșa, who is ranked 70e in the world.
On the men’s side, fourth seed Casper Ruud defeated Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. The Norwegian remains one of the favorites for top honors at Roland-Garros, having lost in the final to Nadal last year.