2025 French Open: Gabriel Diallo, Elisabetta Cocciaretto Pull Off Round 1 Upset

The first round of the 2025 French Open saw several top-10 seeds suffer disappointing defeats, including Americans Emma Navaro and Taylor Fritz. 

But, they weren’t the only surprisets in the opening round at Roland Garros. 

Perhaps the most surpriset of the day came at the hands of Canadian Gabriel Diallo, who stunned Francisco Cerundolo for his first main draw win at the French Open. 

American doubles star Taylor Townsend was also ousted early in the women’s singles bracket, capping off an unpredictable start to the second Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Gabriel Diallo Stuns 2025 Clay Court Leader Francisco Cerundolo

No. 18 seed Francisco Cerundolo had more clay court wins (19) than any other men’s or women’s player coming into Roland Garros but that didn’t matter on Monday. 

Ranked 54th in the world entering Roland Garros, Diallo broke Cerundolo four times on 11 chances on his way to victory.

Standing at 6-foot-8, the 23-year-old Canadian is the second tallest player in the top 100 and he’s made headlines with some breakthrough performances over the past year. 

Monday’s victory marked his third top-20 win and he’s fresh off of advancing to his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Madrid a few weeks ago. 

Emma Navaro Lasts Just 57 Minutes versus Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 

The most disappointing performance of the day belonged to 2024 U.S. Open finalist Emma Navaro, who lasted just 57 minutes in her defeat versus Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain. 

The No. 9 seed in the women’s singles bracket, Navaro won just one game, falling 6-0 and 6-1 in straight sets. The loss was yet another setback for the 24-year-old American, who reached the fourth round at Roland Garros last year.

Prior to the loss, Navaro had a strong start to the season, including a quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open but her clay court struggles were on full display in Paris.

Elisabetta Cocciaretto Eliminates Taylor Townsend

Taylor Townsend missed the entire clay swing heading into the French Open as she recovered from a concussion, which may have played a role in her performance on Monday.

One of the favorites to win the doubles title in Paris, Townsend advanced through three rounds of qualifying to earn her place in the women’s single draw but faced a tough opponent in Cocciaretto, who reached the fourth round last year at Roland Garros.

While this wasn’t an upset on paper in of their overall ranking, it was still a surprise to see Townsend go down in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. 

Daniel Altmaier Takes Down No. 4 Seed Taylor Fritz

In September, Fritz became the first American male to reach a Grand Slam final since Andy Roddick in 2009. 

However, he didn’t bring the same level of focus to his first round matchup in Paris and he’s going home early as a result.

While most of the top seeds in Paris made light work of their opponents, Fritz crashed out in the first round in disappointing fashion. 

The No. 4-ranked player in the world, Fritz had his big serve broken five times on Monday en route to being eliminated in four sets 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the hands of unseeded Daniel Altmaier.

Prior to Monday’s loss, Fritz had won 15 consecutive Grand Slam matches against opponents ranked outside of the top 50.