Stefanos Tsitsipas' shock slump confirmed after stunning French Open loss to world number 167

Greek star Tsitsipas, the 20th seed at Roland Garros, was beaten 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 by Gigante out on Court Simonne-Mathieu, the Italian saving multiple break points as he closed out the match.

It is just the second time that Gigante has played at a Grand Slam tournament and the first time he has reached the third round of a major tournament.

"I feel very, very good for sure," said Gigante on court. "It was a fight. He's an amazing player, so I play very well and I'm very happy.

"This is the fruit of the job that I do every day. I say thank you to my team and nothing else."

Having come through qualifying to reach the third round of Roland Garros, world No 167 Gigante is projected to rise to 129th in the ATP Rankings, eclipsing his previous career-high of world number 132.

The 23-year-old will face 13th seed Ben Shelton in round three on Friday, with the American having received a walkover into the third round of the event following the withdrawal of Hugo Gaston.

Gigante is the first qualifier in 17 years to defeat a former French Open finalist in the men's singles, following Eduardo Schwank's win over Carlos Moya back in 2008.

However, while it was joy for Gigante, a stunning defeat to an opponent 147 places below him in the ATP Rankings cements Tsitsipas' recent struggles.

The Greek fell out of the top 10 after failing to defend his Monte Carlo Masters title back in April and has now suffered his earliest French Open exit since a round-two exit to Dominic Thiem in 2018.

Tsitsipas had reached at least the fourth round of the tournament every year since then, including runs to the semi-final in 2020 and the final in 2021.

Former world number three Tsitsipas was defending 400 quarter-final points at Roland Garros following a run to the last eight back in 2024.

However, with only 50 ranking points offered to those who lose in the second round, the Greek will drop from 2,270 to 1,920 points when the rankings update post-tournament.

Currently ranked 20th in the world, Tsitsipas will drop at least five places to world number 25 on Monday, June 9th.

He will be knocked down to world number 26 in the ATP Live Rankings should current world number 26 Flavio Cobolli defeat Matteo Arnaldi in their second-round clash on Thursday.

Tsitsipas has not been ranked outside the top 20 since August 2018, when he leapt from world number 27 to number 15 after a run to his first Masters 1000 final at the Canadian Open.

A two-time Grand Slam finalist at the peak of his powers, he faces an uphill task to rescue his ranking over the coming months.

Wimbledon and the US Open have traditionally been his weakest Slams, never making it past round four at SW19 or round three at Flushing Meadows.

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