Germany’s Daniel Altmaier scored an early upset at the French Open on Monday with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory against fourth-seeded Taylor Fritz in Paris.
Altmaier saved four of five break points and finished with a 46-34 advantage in winners to overcome 14 aces by Fritz, the 2024 U.S. Open finalist.
Altmaier’s win in two hours and 41 minutes was the fifth of his career against a top-10 opponent, and his third on the clay at Roland Garros: No. 8 Matteo Berrettini in 2020 and No. 9 Jannik Sinner in 2023.
“It was very special,” Altmaier said. “I think I was working really hard the past weeks to get confidence, preparing myself for those kinds of matches. I feel like I’m ready to play whoever is going to face me. I’m really happy to get this first win and I really love my performance.”
Altmaier, 26, will face Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic in the second round.
“I try to be as humble as possible,” Altmaier said. “The sacrifices every tennis player is (making) is unbelievable. I have a long vision, and I definitely want to achieve something big in this sport, and I’m working for that, so that’s why I have to win matches.”
In other action, No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain opened his title defense with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri.
Alcaraz saved all three break points and finished in just under two hours with 31 winners and 23 unforced errors. The four-time Grand Slam winner won 21 of 25 points at the net to set up a second-round date with Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.
“It was really, really solid,” said Alcaraz, who is trying to become the first repeat champion since Rafael Nadal in 2019-20. “The first round of the tournament is never easy, coming here as the defending champion could be even tougher. But I just started pretty well and kept my good pace during the whole match. I tried to be focused on my game, to get a good rhythm.”
No. 7 seed Casper Ruud of Norway opened with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas. No. 20 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece beat Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. No. 23 Sebastian Korda held of Italy’s Luciano Darderi 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. No. 25 seed Alexei Popyrin was ahead 7-5, 6-4, 1-2 when Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka retired. No. 26 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina eliminated fellow Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
Also advancing were Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, France’s Hugo Gaston, Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic and Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.
–Field Level Media
