Roland-Garros Daniil Medvedev, 2nd in the world, beaten from the start by the 172nd

(Paris) Russian Daniil Medvedev was surprised in the first round of the French Open tennis tournament on Tuesday, after losing 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3 and 6-4 ahead of Thiago Seybolt Wild, a Brazilian ranked 172^e in the world who was playing only his second career match 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. I’ve always dreamed of playing on this kind of ground, against these kind of players… 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 outshot Medvedev 69-45 in game winners, and 47-15 in forehands.

Medvedev, the US Open champion two years ago, has never been 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 simply couldn’t 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, didn’t help himself by committing a personal-high 15 double faults.

This tournament is already memorable for Seybolt Wild: before Paris, he had never been able to cross the qualifying table of a Grand Slam tournament on eight career occasions – in fact, he had only savored one only victory in these circumstances.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ons Jabeur got another opportunity 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 dropped the flag to Poland’s Magda Linette.

Jabeur will now be able to focus on his real goal: winning a first major career title. 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 when she faced world No. 1 Iga Swiatek at the clay court tournament in Stuttgart, Germany at the end of April, and withdrew from the tournament. Madrid.

“It was difficult for me after Stuttgart,” admitted Jabeur, adding that she started to find her bearings again.

Jabeur had 27 winners to Bronzetti’s only seven, but she also had 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 in an ankle against Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the tournament last year.

Zverev, the 22^e seed at Roland Garros, reached the second round after improving his career 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 career Grand Slam tournament by beating Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-2, 6-1. Andreeva’s older sister — Erika, who is 18 — is due to face Emma Navarro later today.

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: Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina (no 25) folded 6-2, 6-3 ahead of France’s Diane Parry, while Czech Marie Bouzkova (no 31) was upset 6-4, 7-6 (5) by China’s Xinyu Wang.

On the other hand, Swiatek will begin the defense of her title at the end of the day against Cristina Bucsa, who is ranked 70^e 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 after losing in the final to Nadal last year.