Medvedev meltdown as Russian falls to Norrie at first hurdle

Former world number one Daniil Medvedev of Russia paid the price for an early meltdown as he stumbled out of the French Open with a 7-5 6-3 4-6 1-6 7-5 first-round defeat by Britain's Cameron Norrie on Tuesday.

Medvedev's composure disintegrated as he surrendered eight consecutive games after opening a 3-1 lead in the first set, his frustration boiling over in a series of animated gestures towards his bewildered coaching team.

With the vocal support of the Simonne Matthieu court crowd, however, the 2021 U.S. Open champion found his groove despite the windy conditions to win the third set and bag the fourth easily after claiming a remarkable 16 consecutive points.

Norrie, who reached the semi-finals at the Geneva Open last week, was out of ideas on how to outwit the elastic Medvedev, who broke for 2-1 in the decider with a lightning-fast passing shot.

The Briton, however, found the resources to break back before wrapping up victory on his first match point to hand 11th seed Medvedev his sixth first-round loss at Roland Garros.

"It was a great atmosphere, I felt a lot of energy. It was a crazy match, I deserve a diploma for beating him since he beat me the last four, five times," said Norrie, who entered the match with a 0-4 win-loss record against the Russian.

"I've been getting better week by week on clay."

Next up for Norrie is Argentine lucky loser Federico Gomez.