Katie Boulter joined Fran Jones in the second round of the French Open at Roland-Garros but qualifier Toby Samuel saw his dream run ended.
British No 3 Boulter, ranked 71 in the world, came through against American teenager Akasha Urhobo 6-4 4-6 6-4 in a hard-fought victory on Court 8.
Boulter has grown in confidence on clay over the past couple of seasons and arrived in Paris showing encouraging form.
The 29-year-old reached the quarter-finals of the WTA 250 in Rouen before picking up wins in both singles and doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open.
She has high hopes of clocking a deep run at Roland-Garros where she’ll hope to surpass her tournament-best run of the second round but has Russian-born Austrian Anastasia Potapova to contend with next.
Four-time champion Iga Swiatek cantered into the second round, dispatching Australian wildcard Emerson Jones 6-1 6-2 in quick time under a beaming sun.
“I’m just really happy to play on this court; the first matches are for getting used to conditions, I’m happy the way I played today, tactically,” said Swiatek, who has lost only two matches at Roland-Garros in six years.
“Nothing comes easy. I feel with more titles it feels harder because everyone expects you to play perfectly, so you have to stay grounded and not take anything for granted.”
Swiatek will take on Czech Sara Bejlek for a place in the third round.
Former finalist and Italian 13th seed Jasmine Paolini beat Dayana Yastremska 7-5 6-3 to set up a second-round clash with Argentina’s Solana Sierra, who had earlier knocked out Emma Raducanu.
Ukrainian seventh seed Elina Svitolina survived a major scare to reach the second round, coming from behind to labour past unheralded Anna Bondar 3-6 6-1 7-6 (10-8).
“Definitely the support of you guys has been unbelievable, this kind of battle is never easy. It was an amazing match, I’m pleased with my performance,” said Rome champion Svitolina, who has now played four consecutive three-set matches.
“A first round like this puts you right on track. Mental strength took me over the line, as well as my physical condition.”
French Open exit for Samuel after impressive run to main draw
Dorset tennis sensation Toby Samuel has propelled himself into the spotlight after an impressive run of form which has seen him win four ATP Challenge titles since November
Toby Samuel’s Parisian adventure ended with a first-round loss to eighth seed Alex De Minaur.
Samuel made it through qualifying on his first attempt at Roland Garros but this was a huge step up given the 23-year-old had never faced a top-100 player before.
He acquitted himself well in hot conditions on his Grand Slam debut but De Minaur was a class above in a 6-4 6-4 6-2 victory.
He said: “A couple of months ago I wouldn’t have thought I’d be playing someone like Alex De Minaur. Especially last year, I was [ranked] outside 1,000.
“I was miles off these guys, but it really isn’t as big a gap as I thought, and this week’s definitely shown that to me and I know that I can try and compete at this level.”
Samuel, who was another British player who choose to hone his game at US college, had the biggest ranking rise of any male player last year, leaping from 1,867 in the world to 266.
He has continued his ascent this season and arrived in Paris at a career high of 159, making him the British No 8.
Samuel, who grew up in Dorset and now trains at the University of Bath, looked understandably nervous initially against De Minaur, and the Australian was quickly a break up.
But Samuel settled into the contest and briefly threatened to make life difficult for his opponent when he broke the De Minaur serve to lead 2-0 in the second set.
His advantage was quickly snuffed out, though, Samuel bouncing his racket on the clay in frustration, and De Minaur ended the match with a run of five games in a row.
“Going into the grass now, it was a great week for me here to qualify and get into the main draw, and I just want to put myself in the best position possible for the main draw wild card,” said Samuel, who collected €87,000 (approximately £75,000) – which is over half his entire career prize money up until now and has almost certainly earned a Wimbledon wild card.
Stan Wawrinka’s final appearance at the French Open ended in heartbreak as the 41-year-old, who won the tournament in 2015 and is set to retire this year, lost to Jesper De Jong 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Spain’s Rafael Jodar quietly began carving his own path to stardom with a 6-1 6-0 6-4 first-round win over Aleksandar Kovacevic.
“I still have to learn a lot of things in the tour,” said Jodar, who takes on Australia’s James Duckworth next. “It’s just my first year and I’m experiencing a lot of things in this past few months.”
Electronic line-calling. Yes or no?
Pierre-Hugues Herbert lost to Lorenzo Sonego in a last-night opening round clash at the French Open on Sunday
Roland-Garros remains the only Grand Slam tournament not to use electronic line-calling. Pierre-Hugues Herbert was furious with the umpire’s decision after he believed Lorenzo Sonego’s shot was out during their clash on Sunday.
Herbert shouted ‘NO’ in utter disbelief. “You had the wrong mark anyways, it was on the line. No! You’re going see it,” he said.
“Look at me in the eyes. You’re going see it. It’s going be out. And you’re going be really, if you don’t say sorry after that one, I’ll never speak to you again. You don’t even imagine.”
Anne Keothavong and Tim Henman discussed the pros and cons of ELC on TNT Sports.
“It’s fine to see the line judges out there and it’s fine to see the umpires getting up and down – only on clay! And nothing by the sounds of it is going to change here,” said Billie Jean King Cup captain Keothavong.
Henman said: “I don’t think it will change listening to the French Tennis Federation but if we’ve got the technology we should use it. It’s been a huge success on all other surfaces. It still brings up a little bit of debate because you can go and see the ball mark, which isn’t always particularly clear, and television will have the HawkEye technology showing the ball mark, so sometimes they disagree.
“I’m a traditionalist but having said that I think electronic line-calling is the way forward.”
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