Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie led the way on another impressive day for British tennis players on the clay courts of Paris as Britain’s two most successful active male players moved into the second round of theFrench Open.
Norrie took a significant step in his attempts to re-establish himself at the highest level of the ATP tour as he toppled the former world No 1 Daniil Medvedev, seeded 11th, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5 after trailing 3-5 in the final set.
Later, Draper maintained his composure to secure his first career win at the French Open by defeating Mattia Bellucci 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Sonay Kartal, meanwhile, continued her steady, assured rise by dominating Erika Andreeva 6-0, 6-2 to win on her main-draw debut.
After victories forKatie Boulter, Emma Raducanu and Jacob Fearnley on Monday, this is the first time in the open era that three British men and three British women have won first-round matches at Roland Garros and the most British players into the second round since 1973.
Draper returned to Paris for his third career appearance in a curious position. He continued his incredible rise this year by finally breaking through on clay and he entered Court Suzanne Lenglen as a top-five player at a grand slam tournament for the first time. At the same time, he was still seeking his first French Open victory.
Under those circumstances, the early nerves he displayed were not surprising. He struggled with his serve from the start, double faults piling up, and he was tentative behind his usually destructive forehand. Across the net from Draper stood a familiar foe in Bellucci, also a 23-year-old left-hander, who he first faced in doubles alongside Jacob Fearnley when they were only 12 years old.
Despite being only 5ft 9in tall, Bellucci is an explosive, dynamic and wildly entertaining player. His fast left arm propels his wicked yet inconsistent forehand and he is a great athlete with ample variation in his game, which he demonstrated throughout a strong start as he quickly led 5-1 before taking the first set at 6-3 with a sweet underarm serve. Draper remained calm after conceding the first set and his slow start eventually gave way to a dominant performance.
“He came out, played really aggressive from the start, some amazing shots, caught me a little bit off guard,” Draper said. “I’m really proud of the way I was able to turn it around.”
Norrie’s victory against Medvedev is the joint best win at a grand slam tournament of his career. It also marked his first victory against Medvedev after losing all four of their previous meetings in straight sets. Norrie had started the match extremely well, pairing his typical discipline, durability and consistency with greater aggression on his forehand.
As the Russian forced himself inside the baseline and began to dictate, however, Norrie lost control and the match flipped dramatically. Down 3-5 in the fifth set, though, Norrie locked down his game and found his way to an incredible escape, reeling off the final four games of the match to win. Afterwards, Norrie described the victory as one of the top wins of his career.
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“Outside of Alcaraz, Sinner and Novak, would be probably the fourth toughest draw for me in terms of matchups and players,” he said. “Extremely good win, especially my record with him. What’s his ranking, 12 or 11 in the world? In a slam, best-of-five, beating him in five sets is impressive for me.”
It is difficult to overstate the significance of this victory for the former British No 1. After the highs ofwinning the Indian Wells Masters 1000 eventin 2021, facing Novak Djokovic in the 2022 Wimbledon semi-finals and climbing to No 8 in the ATP rankings, the past few years have been extremely difficult. Although injuries have played a part, he has struggled even when he has been healthy on court. Two weeks ago, the 29-year-old fell to No 91 in the rankings, his lowest since 2018.
Norrie is an extremely ambitious individual but in order to find his way again, he had to take a step back and detach himself from his intense expectations and simply enjoy the game of tennis again. A turning point came after another easy first round loss at the Miami Open in March.
“After Miami, I felt I was trying too hard and forcing things too much,” Norrie said. “I took some time, thought about everything in my career and my personal life and I think I was setting expectations too high. I talked to my team, a long meeting, just to try to enjoy the tennis a bit more and look for good moments. I started winning straight after that and started watching matches back, and I looked a lot more like myself on the court.
“Why not go and enjoy it, go and play and compete. Looking back after my career, you’re gonna miss competing and miss the tough moments, and I don’t want to regret that.”