French Open 2021: Day 1: Zverev, Tsitsipas, Carreno Busta move on, Thiem faces shock defeat

Second grand slam of the year, The French Open kicked off on Sunday with some epic matches living upto their hype. Most of the top seeds prevailed into the next round but we saw a huge upset in two-time Finalist Dominic Thiem bowing out of the competition on the very first day. There is jam packed action to follow in the remaining two days of first round matches in Paris.

Dominic Thiem shocked at Chatrier

It was the biggest story of the day as Dominic Thiem blew a two sets lead and hence was handed a first-round loss at the French Open for the first time in his career. The 35-year-old Pablo Andujar staged a remarkable comeback on Court Philippe Chatrier to defeat the two-time Roland Garros runner-up 4-6,5-7,6-3,6-4,6-4 after almost four-and-a-half hours.

“It does feel very tough, as I was used since 2016 to play very deep in this tournament,” said the 27-year-old. “So (I) was not like the big three who are never losing before the quarters. I mean, I had early losses before, but especially here where since 2015 I didn’t have them, it feels weird and it feels very difficult.”

Zverev completes an epic comeback

It looked we Alexander Zverev will follow the footsteps of his friend Dominic Thiem after he was two sets down, but he refused to give up and made an epic comeback to against Oscar Otte and survived a first round scare. He defeated the fellow German 3-6,3-6,6-2,6-2,6-0 in five sets.

Otte did not lose a set in qualifying, and his confidence showed in the early going against Zverev, evident in his volleys and movement across the court. But the sixth seed never panicked and kept his calm. And once he surged ahead in the third set and began to move up in the court, Otte was unable to find any answers.

Tsitsipas eases past Chardy

It was a late night outing for fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on Chatrier under lights. The Greek delivered in style with a straight sets victory over home favorite Jeremy Chardy 7-6(6),6-3,6-1.

After a tough first set, where he was down in the tie breaker, Tsitsipas was comfortable in the next two sets as he dropped just 4 games to cruise into the second round where he will face the winner of Parma champion Sebastian Korda vs Pedro Martinez.

French Open 2021: Other Results

• Enzo Couacaud defeats Egor Gerasimov (7-6,6-4,6-3)
• Fabio Fognini defeats Gregoire Barrere (6-4,6-1,6-4)
• Henri Laaksonen defeats Yannick Hanfmann (6-1,6-3,4-6,6-2)
• Miomir Kecmanovic defeats Dan Evans (1-6,6-3,6-3,6-4)
• Roberto Bautista Agut defeats Mario Vilella Martinez (6-4,6-4,6-2)
• Guido Pella defeats Daniel Galan (6-3,7-6,7-5)
• Marton Fucsovics defeats Gilles Simon (6-4,6-1,7-6)
• Karen Khachanov defeats Jiri Vesely (6-1,6-2,6-3)
• Kei Nishikori defeats Alessandro Giannessi (6-4,6-7,6-3,4-6,6-4)
• Mackenzie McDonald defeats Emil Ruusuvuori (4-6,6-3,7-6,6-3)
• Cristian Garin defeats Juan Londero (3-6,6-4,7-6,6-2)
• Marcos Giron defeats Grigor Dimitrov (2-6,4-6,7-5,3-0 ret.)
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina defeats Mikhail Kukushkin (6-4,6-4,6-3)
• Roman Safiullin defeats Carlos Taberner (7-6,1-6,6-0,6-2)
• Laslo Djere defeats Corentin Moutet (6-3,6-7,7-6,7-5)
• Botic van de Zandschulp defeats Hubert Hurkacz (6-7,6-7,6-2,6-2,6-4)

Also read: French Open 2021: Day 1 Results: Osaka, Kvitova, Sabalenka all progress into the second round; Kerber bites the dust