The curse of French Open five-setters struck again for Daniil Medvedev with the patchy sixth seed going out in his opening match on Tuesday 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.

Australian wildcard Adam Walton earned the victory, his first defeat of a top 10 player to hand Medvedev a fourth Paris loss in a five-set match which lasted for almost three and a half hours.

Medvedev, a Rome semi-finalist, committed 59 unforced errors and converted on only five of 21 break chances against his No. 97 opponent

“I managed to take the match (lead) when he didn’t play that well. That’s it. I didn’t manage to raise my level enough to win the whole match, and that’s why I lost,” he said.

“In tennis you need to adapt to the things, and sometimes I’m not good enough to adapt to it, and sometimes I am.”

Given his dismal record here, Medvedev remained reluctant to pinpoint a cause:

“I don’t want to find excuses. I know why I don’t really play always my best in Roland Garros, but if I say it, it’s excuses. So I keep it to myself.”

Paris is by far the world major for Medvedev, who has lost in the first round in seven of his last 10 appearances..

Walton, who also beat Medvedev last August in Cincinnati, was thrilled: “It’s huge.” 

“I knew I could do it and I believed, so I’m just happy with my performance. I’m really excited right now.

“It was such an up-and-down match. I ⁠got off to a hot start, and I felt like the ebbs and flows of the match were quite large today. 

“I’m just really proud of my efforts ⁠in the fifth set, to come from a break down to get the win.”

2021 Paris runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the second round in well under an hour as French opponent Alexandre Muller retired with pain in his right clf to hand over a 6-2, 3-0 win to the Greek,

Tsitsipas is fighting his way out of a months-long slump which has left his former top 10 ranking down at 79th

But the unseeded threat felt in his element on another hot spring day as he played on the Chatrier showcourt.

“I’ve always felt like Chatrier has more of a kick to it. The heat always makes a court bouncier, it makes the clay dry up quicker, which has more of an effect ultimately.

“When we had rain here for a few days in a row in the past in the Roland Garros, I’ve always felt like the ball stays lower and you have the tendency to play longer rallies.”

Tsitsipas called this week’s heat “an extra challenge.”

“I’m mentally ready every single time to face it. I just want to make the most out of it in terms of grinding it out.

“It’s about who can withstand it better. The tennis feels like coming second when there is so much heat on the court.”

Croat veteran Marin Cilic, a 2022 semi-finalist, suffered a shock ouster at the hands of 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-1.

Kouame is the first teen to defeat a former Grand Slam winner (Cilic won the 2014 US Open) in a Grand Slam debut match since Marat Safin beat Andre Agassi here in 1998.

The youngster coached by Richard Gasquet is also the first player born in 2009 to win a matchrogrogrog at a major. Former French player Gasquet faced Cilic four times in his career (2-2).

“I felt rather good, well prepared,” the winner said. “I was ready.

“We worked a lot on the tactics, on how to approach the match.

“Yesterday I also practised a lot on these courts, and last year I also practised and played here.

“So I knew a bit about the atmosphere and the crowd that was present today.”

British No. 1 Cam Norrie retired with a rib complaint to send Paraguay’s Alfredo Vallejo into the second round 7-6 (7), 2-0.

Alexander Zverev maintained his near-perfect first-round success rate at Roland Garros as the second seed produced a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Benjamin Bonzi to advance on Sunday’s opening day.

The German who played the final here in 2024 against Carlos Alcaraz, has passed the Paris first round for the tenth time in 11 appearances.

He won in sweltering 33 Celsius conditions, which are expected to last for through the coming Week 1

The 29-year-old who has been bothered by recent back issues due to a busy match schedule, nevertheless has compiled an impressive spring clay record, reaching the Madrid final along with semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Munich.

He stumbled in the Rome Masters run-up, going out in the fourth round to Luciano Darderi as his back worry played up, causing him to withdraw from Geneva.

Zverev made his move into the second round in around two hours over the No 98.

“It was a good start, it’s sometimes as simple as that,” Zverev said, “I won in three sets. 

“It was an opening match against an opponent who can make it difficult against good players. He’s shown that in the past, and I handled it well.

“That’s what I’m the most happy about.”

Zverev advanced to the semi-finals at three of four clay events played this season, highlighted by a run to the Madrid final.

Australian James Duckworth booked the first second-round spot of the fortnight after winning an abbreviated opening match, defeating injured Canadian Gabriel Diallo 6-3, 4-1 in barely an hour.

Karen Khachanov dished out the first French loss of the tournament as he defeated Arthur Gea 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-0,with the 140th-ranked wild card forced to rush off court at one point for a bathroom emergency.

Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina needed more than four hours to complete a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 defeat of Damir Dzumhur.

“Today was a very tough match, I didn’t expect that it was going to be that hot today,” the winner said.

“I suffered a lot with this heat. At the beginning, I was not feeling very good, so I needed to change a little bit my plans.

“Physically I was struggling a little bit. At the end, I was a little bit lucky
playing two, three shots. I made a lot of winners.”

He said the win needed extra effort after playing last week in the cool 10 Celsius of Hamburg,

French hopes at Roland Garros took a battering on Saturday as national No. 1 Arthur Fils withdrew from the Sunday start of the Grand Slam with a hip injury.

The ATP No. 19 who won the Barcelona title a month ago but had to retire recently in Rome after only four games, said he is unsure of his actual health situation.

“In Rome I felt a little bit (of pain) around the hip. After an exam, everything were looking pretty fine, but still a lot of pain.

“I was not able to practice for the last two weeks.:

The French hope said that a Saturday training session showed him he would be unable to front up for the Sunday start.

“I will not be fit 100 per cent to play the tournament, and I will not take any risk like I did last year (back pain which kept him out for eight months).

“I don’t want to be stupid, you know.”

The 21-year-old with four ATP titles managed the third round here a year ago, then was able to play just two matches until his injury return in February.”It’s just pain bothering me. When I step on the court, it’s just here. It’s never going away.

“If this was the the last tournament of my life, I would have played. But I have 10, 15 more years,”

Fils said his current injury is not the same as his 2025 back problems.

“It’s this (lower back or hip) area that bothering me since couple of weeks, but

I can’t say it now, because I don’t even know myself.”