Nishesh Basavareddy had a French Open debut to remember Sunday as the 148th-ranked American stunned 9th-ranked and 7th-seeded countryman Taylor Fritz in a first round stunner.
The pair battled to three consecutive sets that went to tiebreak. When it got to the fourth with Basavareddy holding a 2-1 lead, Basavareddy dominated to secure a 7-6 (7), 7-6 (7), 6-7 (11), 6-1 upset.
Basavareddy, 21 and a former Stanford player, advances to the second round with a stunning upset in his first-ever match in the French Open main draw.
Fritz becomes the first top-10 seed to fall at Roland Garros. And he loses in the first round for the second consecutive year after falling to Germany’s Daniel Altmaiera as the No. 4 seed in 2025.
Fritz had played in just one match in the previous two months, a straight-sets defeat to Australia’s Alexei Popyrin on Wednesday. Fritz had been sidelined with knee tendinitis, and the Round of 16 loss at the Geneva Open was his only clay-court warmup before playing at Roland Garros Sunday.
The rust showed against Basavareddy, who earned his spot in the field as a wild-card for winning the USTA Roland-Garros Wild Card Challenge earlier in May.
Basavareddy was the better player in the clutch early as he won tiebreaks in each of the first two sets to take a 2-0 lead. The pair played to 6-6 again in the third set, and Basavareddy took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreak to move to the verge of a sweep.
Fritz battled back to tie the tiebreak at 3-3, then survived match point to win an 11-9 tiebreak and force a fourth set.
Fritz takes the 3rd 7-6 (9) on his 5th set point.
Golden opportunity for Basavareddy wasted. Was up 3-0 and had a MP on return… pic.twitter.com/h9eC4iMMu6
— JessetheJuicer (@JesseMurphe) May 24, 2026
But Fritz had little more to offer after a grueling first three sets.
Basavareddy broke Fritz twice to take a 5-0 lead in the fourth. Fritz then hit a Basavareddy serve into the net on match point, and Basavareddy secured the four-set victory for his first top-10 win and the first American victory over a top-10 opponent at the French Open since 2000.
USA’s Nishesh Basavareddy UPSETS fellow American No. 7 Taylor Fritz 🤯🚨
Fritz was the second highest ranked American coming into to Roland-Garros 😱 pic.twitter.com/IxRtJNmuFt
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 24, 2026
“What a match,” Basavareddy said in his on-court interview. “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.”
Basavareddy advances to take on the winner between American Alex Michelsen and Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko in the second round.