Norrie stuns Medvedev in five, another early Roland-Garros exit for the Russian

Cameron Norrie sent Daniil Medvedev out of Roland-Garros at the first round for the sixth time in the Russian’s career, eventually defeating the world No 11 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5.

Medvedev will exit this year’s French Open wondering how he managed to lose this contest, having served for the match at 5-4 in the fifth, only for Norrie to break twice either side of a hold to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.

“I was just trying to play every point, and every point was difficult, Norrie said. “There’s no easy way to win each point against Daniil. Somehow managed to come our way in the end.”

“I used the momentum to my advantage. Like I told you guys before, I had to run for four hours to have a chance. I was able to do that. Pretty fortunate to go my way.”

Norrie ranked this match in the top three wins of his career. He has previously defeated Carlos Alcaraz twice and Rafael Nadal in 2022 at the ATP Cup, as well as beating Casper Ruud, world No 11 at the time, in the third round of the Australian Open.

Medvedev’s lowest numbers since 2018

This is Medvedev’s second early exit from a Grand Slam tournament in a five-set match this season, following his loss to Learner Tien at the Australian Open earlier this year.

“I would guess the career is long, so some matches I won like this, the Russian told to the reporters. “I would not think too much about it, but it’s unfortunate situation in both matches.”

“You know, look at, like, Australian Open in 2024, which was a year and a half ago, which is not long ago, because I played for, like, 20 years already, I managed to do it the other way around. It’s just tennis. This year I lost maybe three matches where I could serve it out. At least I remember three. I need to do better next time.”

Medvedev hasn’t experienced such a series of early exits since 2018.

Another early defeat in Paris means Medvedev now has the third-lowest win percentage of Grand Slam winners at Roland-Garros, after Andy Roddick and Thomas Johansson.

The Russian had also served for the first set at 5-3 before Norrie stole the opener, using that momentum to propel himself into a deserved two-set lead.

But Medvedev fought back valiantly to take the next two and send the match into a decider, with a one-sided fourth set giving the impression that all the momentum was now with the 2021 US Open champion.

Indeed, Medvedev moved a set up and had the match on his racquet at 5-4 before that late surge from Norrie sent his rattled opponent crashing out of the men’s singles for another year.

Norrie will go on to face Federico Gomez in the second round.