Daniil Medvedev crashed out of the first round at the French Open to Thiago Seyboth Wild. The world No. 172 Brazilian qualifier produced the upset of the tournament so far as he stunned the second seed Daniil Medvedev in a five sets thriller.
The Brazilian, 23, arrived at Roland Garros without a single main draw win to his name at a Grand Slam event, but prevailed against the world No 2 7-6 6-7 2-6 6-3 6-4. Seyboth Wild produced an astonishingly aggressive game to secure the shock result, which was also the first time he had ever played a fifth set.
Thiago Seyboth Wild def. Daniil Medvedev
How it Happened
The World No. 2 had no clear answers for the Brazilian from the get go as Thiago Seyboth Wild seemed to have borrowed a leaf from the mercurial Russian’s playbook with his aggressive shot making and power from behind the baseline. Daniil Medvedev broke in the very first game of the first set and held serve to go 2-0 up but the Brazilian broke back to love in the fourth game and managed to stay on serve to take the set to a tie break. Medvedev’s first serve wasn’t on sung, a pattern that played through the entire match, allowing the Brazilian to capitalize and gain momentum on Medvedev’s second serve. Thiago Seyboth Wild managed to secure the first set in a tight 7:5 scoreline.
Medvedev managed to keep the errors at bay in the second set but could not take advantage of the 22 unforced errors from Thiago Seyboth Wild to gain any break advantage and we were once again treated to a tiebreak, which he won albeit it on tightly contested grounds, 8-6. The third set presented an entirely different outlook with the No. 2 seed running off with an early break in the very first game of the set. That set the pace for the set and it looked like Daniil Medvedev finally found the gear needed for him to win the match. He lost serve in the fourth game again but quickly broke back and stayed on serve to take the set 6-2.
The fourth set seemed to mirror the third but favoring the world No. 172 instead. He held his first game of the set and broke the No. 2 seed in the second game of the set, held serve to go 3-0. Medvedev would break in the 5th game but would be broken immediately in the next game as the Brazilian maintains his composure to take the match to a fifth set. The final set began with the Brazilian the more determined of the two to progress to Round 2. He broke Medvedev in the very first set and held serve but the fourth and fifth game proved crucial once again with both players exchanging breaks. The trend would continue till the 7th game, when Seyboth Wild would get the most crucial break point opportunity after yet another misplaced first serve from the No. 2 seed. He pounced on the rather tepid second serve from the Russian and snuff out whatever fight the second seed had in him.
A controlled service game from the world No. 172 would eventually take him to match point and over the finish line to the next round where he would face the winner of the Quentin Halys vs Guido Pella match where he would fancy his chances after slaying one of the giant contenders in Paris this fourth night albeit a contender who only just cut his wings on the red dirt with his biggest title on clay just weeks ago in Rome. The match ultimately fell on the margins and Seyboth Wild for all his lack of experience on the biggest stages looked better primed to take advantage. With Medvedev landing 63 percent first serves and landing 14 aces to the Brazilian’s 2 while also maintaining an unforced error rate of 48 to Thiago Seyboth Wild’s 77, the No. 2 seed will most certainly spend the rest of this fortnight wondering how he managed to end up on the losing side in this match.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
