There were major upsets for two of the top American seeds at the French Open on Monday, as Taylor Fritz and Emma Navarro crashed out in the first round.
Taylor Fritz, the runner up at last year’s US Open, was eliminated 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 by world No 66 Daniel Altmaier of Germany. Altmaier broke the No 4 seed’s big serve five times on Court Simonne-Mathieu and ended the Californian’s 15-match grand slam winning streak against players ranked outside the top 50.
Fritz’s exit followed another by a top-10 American: No 9 seed Navarro was bounced from the women’s tournament earlier on Monday. Navarro only lasted 57 minutes, losing 6-0, 6-1 to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain.
It was a major setback for the 24-year-old, who reached the fourth round in Paris last year before her first grand slam semi-final at the US Open. Navarro had a strong start to the season, including a quarter-final at the Australian Open and a WTA 500 title at Mexico’s Merida Open, but has struggled on clay this spring.
In September, Fritz lost the US Open final to Jannik Sinner, becoming the first US man to reach a major final since Andy Roddick in 2009. In Paris, Fritz was the highest-seeded American man at the French Open since Roddick was No 3 in 2007.
While hard courts are Fritz’s preferred surface, he did have a run to the second week on the red clay of Roland-Garros a year ago, making it into the fourth round before losing to Casper Ruud. This is not Altmaier’s first big win at the French Open. He beat No 8 seed Matteo Berrettini there in 2020, and Sinner in 2023.
