American Taylor Fritz suffered a surprise first-round defeat against Germany’s Daniel Altmaier at the French Open on Monday.
Altmaier triumphed 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 against fourth-seed Fritz, who becomes the first major casualty of the men’s draw at Roland-Garros.
The loss marks Fritz’s earliest exit at the French Open since 2018 and his earliest at any grand slam since the 2022 US Open.
“It was very special,” said Altmaier after recording his fifth victory against an opponent ranked inside the top 10, per the ATP Tour. “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.”
The world No. 66 will next face the Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva in the second round on Wednesday.
Having finished runner-up to Jannik Sinner at last year’s US Open, Fritz has now had two disappointing defeats at majors this season – the loss against Altmaier adding to a third-round exit at the Australian Open in January.
He converted just one of his five break points in Monday’s match and managed 34 winners – 14 of which were aces – compared to Altmaier’s 46.
The 27-year-old Fritz wasn’t the only high-ranked American to lose in the opening round at Roland-Garros. In the women’s draw, ninth seed Emma Navarro was thrashed 6-0, 6-1 by Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in just 57 minutes.
According to ESPN, Navarro is the third woman seeded in the top 10 to win just one game in the first round of a grand slam, following Monica Seles at the 2001 Australian Open and Anna Chakvetadze at the 2008 Australian Open.
Elsewhere in the women’ draw, Spanish 10th seed Paula Badosa triumphed 6-7(1), 6-1, 6-4 against four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka, who wore pink bows in her hair and an outfit inspired by the cherry blossoms of her native Japan.
It means that Osaka, currently ranked No. 49 in the world, has not progressed past the second round of the French Open since 2019.
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