Daniil Medvedev and Roland Garros continue their troubled relationship. The sixth seed fell to Australian wildcard Adam Walton 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 in a dramatic first-round encounter lasting 3 hours and 22 minutes, marking his seventh first-round exit at the French Open.
The match swung wildly from set to set. Walton seized the opener, Medvedev struck back, then Walton dominated the third before the Russian leveled again. In a decisive fifth set, the 26-year-old Australian showed remarkable composure for a player competing in his first Grand Slam main-draw match on clay.
Trailing a break at 1-3, Walton saved three break points at 0-40 before mounting a comeback. He broke Medvedev at 4-4 and served out the match at 5-4 in extraordinary fashion, saving five break points without landing a first serve until the final point. Overall, Walton saved 16 of 21 break points he faced, a staggering conversion rate in pressure moments.
Medvedev hit 54 winners to Walton's 34 but matched that figure with 54 unforced errors, a self-destructive ratio that proved decisive. The former world No. 1 has now exited Roland Garros in the opening round in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2025 and 2026, with only his 2024 quarter-final run breaking the pattern.
Walton, ranked 97th, earned the biggest win of his career and his first top-10 scalp. He credited confidence from a previous victory over Medvedev in Cincinnati. He next faces American Zachary Svajda.
For Medvedev, who arrived in strong form after pushing Jannik Sinner in a Rome semi-final, the Parisian clay remains a cursed surface.
