PARIS – Jacques Draper’s victory over Mattia Bellucci on Tuesday marks this as the French Open, the most successful British tennis player in 52 years.
Draper defeated Bellucci 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, becoming the sixth Britt to win the opening match, the most British first-round victory since 1973. Sonay Kartal then became the fifth britt, winning 6-0, 6-2 Erica Andreva 6-2, with the draper rounding the six rounding off.
Draper struggled to get his serve to the point as he slowly began with Bellucci at Court Suzanne Lendglen and fell 6-3 in the first set. Ranked 68th in the world, Bellucci secured his first set with an armpit serve.
Bellucci tried it again in the second set, but just to hit the net, he tried to tame an increasingly confident, precise draper. Britt broke through the next two sets of 6-1, 6-4, closing the match with a 6-2 victory in the fourth set. He will now face Gael Monzils or Hugo Delhien in the second round.
“I’m really proud of the way I started to turn the game into my head and become more aggressive. It was a tough battle,” Draper said after the match.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish – and I’ve finished pretty well. I’ve done well to maintain my health and effort. I have good people around me. I’m focused on being consistent every day.”
Roland Garros’ third day began with an astonishing match at Court Simone Mathieu as Nolly scored his best victory over Medvedev in over a year. Nolly competed in the eighth consecutive French Open, passing 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5 in 3 hours and 53 minutes against the 2021 US Open champions.
“Matchpoint wasn’t very heartfelt. It was an incredible vibe. Thank you for supporting me there. I felt like there was momentum in the end. It was similar to the first set.
“He felt a bit tentative, but honestly, it was a crazy match. He’s very difficult to beat. I think I deserve my diploma to beat Medvedev, as he beat me the last four or five times. It was an unrealistic match.”
Heading into this match, Medvedev didn’t surrender the single set and led Nolly 4-0. However, it was Norrie who started off well against Medvedev and was hit by a two-set lead. Meanwhile, Medvedev was visibly annoyed in his game, unable to score his forehand to points, and frequently cried out in the coaching box as he shipped eight games in a row at one stage.
Medvedev was able to tackle the match with his favour in the third set. Medvedev then dominated the fourth with ruthless service in his serve – his first seat was 89%, a significant increase in the accuracy of 54% and 56% found in the second and third sets, respectively.
The fifth set started with a long game as Nolly saved four breakpoints to save serves, but Medvedev broke him and controlled him in the third game. Norri then returned to match 10 to be 5-5, beating Medve Dyfev once again on the 12th to win the fifth set of 7-5.
“He actually leveled him up and I dropped my strength. I wasn’t hanging with him, but I was able to find some energy in that fifth set.
“It was really good to go through the first round. I just enjoyed it from start to finish. We played incredible tennis. It was a great victory for me. It was a lot of fun.”
Norri is currently facing a second round match against Argentine’s Federico Agustin Gomez.
Meanwhile, Kartal marks his progress to the second round at the French Open with a tattoo, but had to push back plans to get one on Wednesday morning due to a conflict with the doubles.
It was Cartal’s first time in the main draw at Roland Garros, and she won 6-0, 6-2 throughout the first round match against Erica Andreva. She also entered the doubles, playing alongside Jody Ballage, but scheduling meant she had to change plans to get a tattoo on Wednesday morning, and instead shifts to the afternoon.
“I actually booked my (tattoo) at 11am,” Kartal said after beating Andreva. “But I’m here at 11am. My sister just texted me and she changed it to 4. Yeah, I’ll get one tomorrow.
“I don’t really know what I’m getting. She wants to get it too, so she booked it. She wants to match, so I get whatever she wants.
“I’m not just having it. I’d like to go back to another day. If I’ve finished here, I’ll get something similar to the French Open.”
Kartal is planning to get a tattoo on her arm, which will take her tally to 14.
“I tend to crush them and be a bit scattered in the moment. I couldn’t get it. I couldn’t get it.
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