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Indian-origin Basavareddy upsets Taylor Fritz at French Open
Basavareddy reached the 2026 French Open main draw not through his world ranking but via a wildcard spot.
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Staff Reporter - Tue, 26, May 2026
- 03:24 EDT
- 35
Basavareddy celebrating his win against Taylor Fritz / Roland Garros
Twenty-one-year-old Indian-origin wild card entrant Nishesh Basavareddy stunned the tennis world after sending seventh-seeded American peer Taylor Fritz packing in the first round of the ongoing 2026 Roland Garros French Open.
Winning 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-7(9), 6-1 in the two-hour, 45-minute match, Basavareddy has now advanced to the second round.
Hours after his win, Basavareddy shared his excitement with photos from the match and his victory celebration pose, captioned, "Unreal atmosphere. First top 10 win. On to round 2 @rolandgarros. À mercredi."
In the pair's first ATP head-to-head meeting, Basavareddy often put the seventh seed on the back foot with his backhand accuracy and dominant drop shots.
Acknowledging his opponent's dominant performance, Fritz admitted, "He just played incredibly well.”
Fritz continued, "The biggest thing was just the drop shots were crazy. Typically when someone is dropshotting me too much, I kind of just tell myself, ‘Okay, I need to hit the ball deeper.'"
Fritz described Basavareddy's drop shots as "insane" and noted that they were "off balls that were landing on the baseline."
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He continued, "He (Basavareddy) killed me with that, and there's not really much I can do about it. He really cooked me with the drop shots today. I was very impressed with his feel."
Basavareddy reached the 2026 French Open main draw not through his world ranking but via a wildcard spot.
He earned that wildcard after winning the USTA’s Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, a competition organized by the United States Tennis Association to award an entry spot to promising American players.
Nishesh Basavareddy is a rising Indian American tennis star. He recorded his career-best ranking last year at No. 99 in the world in singles, with 12 wins and 20 losses so far in his international career.
Born in California to Indian immigrant parents from Nellore, Basavareddy turned professional in 2024 and is regarded as one of the brightest young talents in American tennis.
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