Alex Michelsen is in action at the French Open in R2 against American countryman Nishesh Basavareddy, while the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina battles Thiago Agustin Tirante.
Alex Michelsen vs. Nishesh Basavareddy
Give Nishesh Basavareddy his due for that first round. The 21-year-old, ranked No. 148 and playing on a wildcard he earned through the USTA’s Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, knocked out seventh seed Taylor Fritz 7-6(5) 7-6(5) 6-7(9) 6-1. Two tiebreaks against a top-10 player, and he won both, though admittedly Fritz is still hobbled with knee tendinitis. The extended fourth set aside, Basavareddy looked composed when it mattered. His ATP clay numbers are thin, but his Challenger/ITF clay record (9-3 in the last 52 weeks) suggests the surface isn’t alien to him.
That said, Alex Michelsen is a meaningful step up in a different way than Fritz. He’s ranked No. 42 and dispatched Alexander Shevchenko 6-2 6-4 6-2 in his opener. Michelsen has been inconsistent on clay in 2026 (5-6 on the surface this year), but his first round showed none of it. The head-to-head is 2-0 for Basavareddy on hard courts, though they’ve never met on clay, so you can only weight that so much. The more relevant factor is that Michelsen’s power should translate better over five sets than anything Basavareddy’s clay game has been tested to sustain at this level. The Fritz result will keep him dangerous, but Michelsen closes this out.
Cheryl pick: Michelsen in 3
(21) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Thiago Agustin Tirante
What Alejandro Davidovich Fokina did in his first round was impressive. It was also alarming. The 21st seed beat Damir Dzumhur 6-7(3), 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, but the score doesn’t capture how close it got. Down a set and a break in the fourth, Dzumhur served for the match. ADF saved the match point, then didn’t drop another game in that set, and closed it out in five. He was visibly cramping through the fifth, hitting flat winners with no legs to work with because that was the only option available to him. Whether his body has recovered from four-plus hours in 90-degree Paris heat is the central question heading into Wednesday.
Thiago Agustin Tirante had a much cleaner opener. The Argentine, ranked No. 69 and reaching the second round at Roland Garros for the first time, beat Pablo Llamas Ruiz 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 6-0 and hit 20 aces along the way. That serve is a legitimate weapon on clay. They’ve met once before (ADF won 7-6(2) 6-2 on indoor hard in Stockholm in 2024), so there’s no clay head-to-head to work from. Tirante’s ranking and fresh legs make him a real threat to a compromised Davidovich Fokina.
I’m picking the Argentine for the upset.
Cheryl pick: Tirante in 4