By Canadian Press

French Open’s No. 2 seed, Daniil Medvedev, loses to 172nd-ranked qualifier, Thiago Seyboth Wild

May 30, 2023 | 10:38 AM

PARIS (AP) — Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev was stunned in the first round of the French Open on Tuesday, losing in five sets to Thiago Seybolt Wild, a 23-year-old from Brazil who is ranked just 172nd and was playing only his second match in the main draw of any Grand Slam tournament.

Seybolt Wild needed to go through qualifying rounds at Roland Garros just to earn a spot in the men’s bracket but looked very much like he belonged on Court Philippe Chatrier, hitting big forehands and keeping his nerve down the stretch to win 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Employing a high-risk, high-reward style, Seybolt Wild compiled a 69-45 edge in total winners, including 47-15 on the forehand side.

Medvedev, the U.S. Open champion two years ago, was never known for his prowess on red clay — he began his French Open career with a 0-4 record. But he’s been showing signs of improvement, reaching the quarterfinals in Paris in 2021 and the fourth round last year, and claiming a title on the surface in Rome this month.

He just could never quite get the upper hand against Seybolt Wild during a match that lasted 4 hours, 15 minutes.

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Medvedev, who was treated by a trainer for a nosebleed in the third set, didn’t help himself by double-faulting a career-high 15 times.

This already had been a breakthrough trip to Paris for Seybolt Wild: He had tried eight previous times to qualify for a major tournament and failed to do so eight times, winning a total of just one match in all of those appearances.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press