By Shrivathsa Sridhar
PARIS, May 24 (Reuters) – Seventh seed Taylor Fritz was stunned 7-6(5) 7-6(5) 6-7(9) 6-1 by fellow American Nishesh Basavareddy in the first round of the French Open on Sunday as his injury-disrupted claycourt season ended with a whimper.
Fritz returned with an opening defeat at Geneva last week after two months away due to a chronic knee issue and he showed signs of rust under the afternoon sun on Court Suzanne Lenglen against 21-year-old wildcard Basavareddy.
It was Basavareddy’s composure on his Roland Garros main draw debut, however, that secured the victory and left his fans standing in their seats chanting his name at the end of an entertaining clash.
“I’m super happy to get through that after losing that third set … thank you all,” Basavareddy said.
“All the players play their best in these tournaments and for me to do that today means the world.”
After a tight opening set slipped away in a see-sawing tiebreak, the 28-year-old came out firing in the second frame, only to surrender an early break as Basavareddy mixed up his game with impeccable drop shots to trouble his compatriot.
Fritz was soon staring at back-to-back first-round defeats at Roland Garros when world number 148 Basavareddy unleashed a powerful serve late in the second-set tiebreak to double his lead in the match.
The third set went with serve for 12 games and Fritz let out a loud scream when he won the tiebreak after saving a match point but Basavareddy was not to be denied a maiden top-10 win, and he took control of the fourth set and finished the job.
“I knew I was playing at a high level,” Basavareddy added. “If I kept going, I’d have more chances, and I was able to come out strong in the beginning of the fourth set. That was the best set I think I’ve ever played.”
Up next for Basavareddy is a second-round clash against Alexander Shevchenko or Alex Michelsen.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris; Additional reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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