Who is Arthur Gea? Rising French star set for Stan Wawrinka showdown at Australian Open

Oli Dickson Jefford 19 Jan 2026 2:30 PM

Arthur Gea celebrates during a match.

There have been a fair few upsets in the opening days of the 2026 Australian Open, and Arthur Gea pulled off one of the biggest with a shock win over Jiri Lehecka on Monday.

World No 19 Lehecka reached the fourth round of the tournament last year and was the 17th seed at the tournament, but was ultimately no match for Gea — with the qualifier pulling off by far and away the biggest win of his burgeoning career.

Competing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time, rising French star Gea looks to try and continue his breakout run alive later this week; here is all you need to know about the Australian Open‘s newest star.

Career so far

Born in France in January 2005, Gea began playing tennis as a young child and first honed his craft as a young junior at the Alain Barrère academy, before a promising junior career.

The Frenchman reached a career-high of eighth in the ITF junior rankings and reached the 2023 US Open boys’ singles semi-final, alongside a runner-up finish in the 2023 Wimbledon boys’ doubles competition.

2023 also saw Gea first make waves on the ITF circuit, reaching his first final in November that year — before three straight titles that same month.

The 21-year-old has won nine ITF Tour titles across his career and made his ATP Tour debut at the Open 13 Provence in February 2025, beating Henri Squire and Yosuke Watanuki in qualifying after receiving a wildcard, before falling to Hugo Grenier in the main draw.

That run helped him crack the top 300 of the ATP Rankings for the first time, and he would make his Grand Slam debut that year at the French Open, entering the men’s doubles event alongside Moise Kouame.

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Gea started 2026 with a run to the biggest title of his career to date at the BNC Tennis Open in New Caledonia, winning his first ATP Challenger title with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Jurij Rodionov.

That run saw him crack the top 200 of the ATP Rankings for the first time and reach a career-high of world No 197, shortly before his Australian Open campaign.

Australian Open run

Before the Australian Open, Gea’s best run at a Grand Slam was reaching the second round of French Open qualifying in 2025.

However, the 21-year-old now finds himself in the second round of the main draw in Melbourne.

Unseeded in qualifying, Gea dropped just five games to storm past Zdenek Kolar in the first round, before easily dispatching second seed Roman Andres Burruchaga — winning both matches 6-2, 6-3.

Competing in the third round of Grand Slam qualifying for the first time, the Frenchman continued his epic run of form, cruising past 30th seed Daniel Vallejo 6-2, 6-2 to reach the main draw.

And, he continued that stunning form with by far and away the biggest win of his career on Monday, defeating world No 19 Lehecka 7-5, 7-6(1), 7-5 to reach round two.

Having not dropped a set during his flawless run, Gea is currently up to world No 166 in the ATP Live Rankings, moving up 32 places from his current ranking of 198th.

Now, Gea will get the chance to face a tennis legend in the form of three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, who is competing at the Australian Open for the final time.

The two are two decades apart in age, though this match represents a huge opportunity for both to reach round three inside Melbourne Park.

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