French Open: Australian wildcard Walton upsets Medvedev in five-setter
Paris, May 26
Daniil Medvedev's wretched run at Roland Garros continued on Tuesday as the world No 5 bowed out in the first round once again in stunning fashion, losing to Australian wildcard Adam Walton in five sets in an astonishing contest on the Suzanne-Lenglen Court.
The former US Open champion was outplayed by Walton 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 in three hours and 22 minutes on the clay and claimed the biggest win of his career, as well as his first over a top-10 player.
It was Medvedev's seventh first-round exit at the French Open in 10 visits and leaves him with a dismal 0-4 record in five-set encounters at Roland Garros.
The match swung from side to side in a real battle between the two, and it took a lot for Walton to keep going as Medvedev looked to gain the upper hand in the last three sets, even needing a timeout at the change of ends in the second set to take a salt tablet while battling the Paris heat.
Medvedev was seemingly cruising towards victory when he took a 4-2 lead in the fifth, but Walton turned it around by winning four consecutive games to seal victory as Medvedev unraveled in the last set.
Medvedev was caught on camera getting an on-court reprimand from his wife over his actions at times throughout the encounter.
World No. 97 Walton, playing his first clay-court match of the year, admitted that last year's victory over the Russian at the Cincinnati Masters had given him a taste of what he could do against the 27-year-old.
"Pretty tired now. It was an up-and-down match. I felt like the ebbs and flows of the match were quite large today," Walton said.
"Just really proud of my efforts in the fifth set to come from a break down to get the win. It's huge. Beating him in Cincinnati definitely gave me the belief today. I knew I could do it. I believed. Just really happy with the performance. Just really excited right now."
Walton will play world No. 108 Zachary Svajda of the US in the second round.
Elsewhere, there was success for French tennis, with 17-year-old Moise Kouame producing an incredible upset over former US Open champion Marin Cilic on his Grand Slam debut to win 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-1.
With the home crowd firmly behind him in Court Simonne-Mathieu, the wildcard, who is nearly half the age of Cilic, delivered a maturity far beyond his years to outplay Cilic, who had already reached a top-20 ranking by the time Kouame was born.
Kouame's victory saw him become the youngest Frenchman to win at Roland Garros since 1991, and he will next face Adolfo Daniel Vallejo after Britain's Cameron Norrie pulled out of his first-round encounter.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Medvedev's wife giving him a dressing down on camera was funny but also shows his frustration. He needs to figure out his clay court game or just skip Roland Garros altogether. Walton deserved this win entirely - he outplayed him when it mattered most.
That young French kid Kouame beating Cilic is the real story here! 17 years old, wildcard, and beating a former US Open champion? Incredible. Give him a wildcard to the Chennai Open next year, let's see some Indian talent develop like this!
Medvedev's mentality on clay is weak. He's too negative when things don't go his way. Walton was calm and collected even when down. That's what wins matches. Hopefully our Indian players are watching and learning from this - mental toughness is everything.
Seven first-round exits in ten visits? That's a terrible record for a top 5 player. Maybe he should focus on hard courts where he's actually won a Grand Slam. But credit to Walton - world No. 97 playing his first clay match of the year and beating Medvedev? That's proper tennis!
As a tennis fan, I love these upsets. Medvedev is obviously struggling on clay, but Walton's composure under pressure was remarkable. The way he came back from 4-2 down in the fifth shows real character. Looking forward to seeing how far he can go now!
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