BRAZILIAN qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild produced a stunning upset in his Roland Garros main draw debut, defeating world number two Daniil Medvedev on day three of the French Open. Seyboth Wild needed five sets and four hours and 15 minutes to get the job done, but the clay courter came from behind to win, 7-6 6-7 2-6 6-3 6-4.

Medvedev came into the match off the best clay court form of his life, knocking over several top clay courters in Rome to take home the ATP Masters 1000 crown on his least preferred surface. It was a different story on Philippe-Chartrier though, as he met the Seyboth Wild who has always been regarded as a specialist clay courter.

“I have watched Daniil play for my entire junior career, up until today. Playing on this court against this kind of player and beating him is a dream come true,” Seyboth Wild said post-match. “Walking on court I just wanted to get to the net as much as possible and use my forehand against his and it worked pretty well.”

In an eye-catching performance, Seyboth Wild smashed 69 winners to Medvedev’s 45, and while he was a little loose with his unforced errors – 77 to 48 – he did enough to claim the win. Suffering cramp in the second set, the Brazilian blew two chances in the tiebreak to go two sets to love up, and then dropped the third. Recovering well, Seyboth Wild finished strongly for the biggest win over his career.

“It was pretty tough. I started cramping in the second set. I did my best and tried to play my best tennis and it worked,” Seyboth Wild said. “I am really happy with the way I played.”

Seyboth Wild will take on another clay courter in the second round, with Argentinian Guido Pella needing four hours and 19 minutes to overcome Frenchman Quentin Halys in a fifth set super tiebreak 10-4 after trailing two sets to one.

AROUND THE COURTS

It was a more straightforward day for fourth seed Casper Ruud who cruised through to the second round in straight sets, as did the player who lost to Medvedev in the Rome final, sixth seed Holger Rune, albeit in four sets. Taylor Fritz only dropped four games in a dominant win over compatriot Michael Mmoh, while fellow seeds Tommy Paul and Grigor Dimitrov cruised through.

The biggest turnaround for the day was Italian Andrea Vavassori, with the 28-year-old world 148 coming from two sets to love down and four match points to stun Serbian 31st seed Miomir Kecmanovic in five sets, 5-7 2-6 7-6 7-6 7-6. The fifth set went to a super tiebreak and a whopping 11-9 to decide the winner advancing through to the second round.

In the women’s world number one Iga Swiatek stormed to a 6-4 6-0 win over Spaniard Cristina Bucsa, with fellow top seeds Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur also won through to the Round of 64. Former Top 5 player Lesia Tsurenko caused the biggest upset of the day, upstaging 2021 Roland Garros champion and 13th seed, Barbora Krejcikova in straight sets, 6-2 6-4. Young Russian Mirra Andreeva was also a talking point, with the 16-year-old defeating American Alison Riske comprehensively, 6-2 6-1.