It was supposed to be a celebratory homecoming under the bright lights of Rock Creek Park. Instead, Monday night at the Mubadala DC Open turned into a night of frustration and disbelief for the local crowd.

Hometown fan favorite and sixth-seeded Frances Tiafoe crashed out of the tournament in the opening round, falling to France’s Terence Atmane 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 in a stunning three-set upset.

Washington Times For the Hyattsville native who has historically thrived in front of his home-area supporters—reaching the quarterfinals or better in four of his previous appearances—the defeat marked an unusually abrupt end to a tournament that holds immense personal significance.

A Fast Start Fades

For a brief moment, everything seemed to be going according to script. Tiafoe fed off the high-energy night session crowd, capturing the opening set 6–4 behind his trademark shot-making and enthusiastic fan engagement.

However, the momentum completely flipped in the second and third sets. World No. 56 Atmane, maintaining his composure and dialing in his powerful serve (firing 10 aces overall), began to exploit chinks in the American’s armor. Tiafoe struggled immensely to find rhythm on his second serve—winning just 14 of 30 points behind it—and racked up 25 unforced errors, with a staggering 15 coming off his fragile backhand wing.

Atmane capitalized on the mounting errors, securing a crucial break late in the decider before confidently serving out the match to seal the comeback.

“My respect to him for winning the match, but very, very poor from my side. I thought I helped him get over the line today, for sure,” Tiafoe admitted candidly after the match. “A lot of mistakes. A lot of easy mistakes, especially on my backhand. Really poor performance in the last two sets from me.”

The loss stings all the more given the high standards Tiafoe has set for himself this season, which include a prestigious grass-court title at the Halle Open. Entering Monday’s match as the heavy favorite against an opponent who had struggled to find consistency on the ATP Tour recently, a deep run in Washington seemed entirely plausible.

Instead, it marks the first time this year that Tiafoe has lost his opening match at a tournament.

Very disappointing,” Tiafoe added. “Especially for the year that I’ve been having, super disappointing. Honestly, that’s all I can really say. I had a lot of high hopes. Yeah, this one hurts a lot.”

While Atmane moves on to face Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo in the next round, Tiafoe is left to pick up the pieces and regroup ahead of the hard-court swing toward the US Open. For D.C. tennis fans, Monday night’s early exit leaves a glaring void in the tournament draw—and a bitter pill to swallow for a crowd that always treats the local star as one of their own