World No. 8 Taylor Fritz was upset by fellow American Nishesh Basavareddy (ATP No. 156) to headline first-round action of the French Open Sunday at Roland Garros in Paris.
A year after Fritz was upended in the first round at this same event in a shocking upset to German Daniel Altmaier, he repeated the inauspicious feat Sunday, falling to Basavareddy 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-7 (9), 6-1.
Basavareddy, who is into the second round of the French Open for the first time after losing in qualifiers the year prior, withstood 21 aces from Fritz to prevail in three hours and 25 minutes. The 21-year-old converted 3 of 6 break points and kept Fritz unbalanced on the clay court, controlling the net play by taking 31 of 37 (83.8%) opportunities.
“What a match,” Basavareddy said. “Taylor’s obviously a great player, so super happy to get through that, especially after losing the third set. First French Open main draw, and all the support, it’s incredible.”
Fritz, the No. 7 seed, stumbled to 48 unforced errors.
Basavareddy advances to face the winner of Kazakhstan’s Aleksandar Shevchenko vs. Alex Michelsen, who square off Monday.
No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany showed no rust in holding off the homecourt advantage of Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The World No. 3 eased past the Frenchman in two hours, eight minutes.
Zverev is still in pursuit of his first major.
“Very good start to the tournament,” Zverev said following the match. “It’s always nice to start with a straight-sets win, especially against Benjamin, who can cause a lot of problems to top players.
“All around, I think a good performance that I can build on. I have to build on it, but very happy with the start.”
Zverev’s next opponent will be Tomas Machac of Czechia, who defeated Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic played in the final match of the night and survived a test from Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4.
“In the first set, (I had) zero chance really on his serve,” said Djokovic, now 80-2 in first-round matches at Grand Slams in his career. “He has one of the most tremendous serves in terms of precision and speed that I have ever faced in my career.”
Fritz wasn’t alone in getting upset, as Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry, seeded 23rd, lost to Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Other seeded winners on Sunday included No. 13 Karen Khachanov of Russia, who coasted past France’s Arthur Gea 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-0; No. 21 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, who edged Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina 6-7 (3), 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; No. 26 Jakub Mensik of Czechia, who handled France’s Titouan Droguet 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; and No. 28 Joao Fonseca of Brazil, who controlled France’s Luka Pavlovic 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-2.
Also advancing were Australia’s James Duckworth, Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic, Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti, Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante, Croatia’s Dino Prizmic and Hamad Medjedovic, Italy’s Federico Cina and Lorenzo Sonego, Belgium’s Alexander Blockx and France’s Quentin Halys and Valentin Royer.
–Field Level Media
