Bulgarian fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov reached the French Open second round on Sunday with a 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) win over Egyptian lucky loser Mohamed Safwat.
Dimitrov, who has never got beyond the third round in Paris, had been expecting to face experienced Viktor Troicki.
However, just minutes before he was due to go on court, Troicki withdrew with a back injury, allowing world number 182 Safwat to make his Grand Slam debut. In the process, he became the first Egyptian since Tamer El Sawy at the 1996 US Open to feature in a major.
"I was warming up and my coach said, 'hey look' and we saw up on the board that I was playing a different opponent," said 27-year-old Dimitrov, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist.
"I didn't expect that."
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