British tennis embarrassed at French Open as four knocked out in first round with just two remaining

Posted by Admin May 27, 2024 Tennis

Katie Boulter and Dan Evans are the sole remaining Brits in both singles draws at the French Open following disappointing losses for Cam Norrie and Harriet Dart.

Roland Garros has notoriously been a difficult major for British players with Andy Murray the first player from the UK to reach the final since Sue Barker’s famous triumph in 1976.

There’s been little to shout home about for British tennis at Roland Garros since that final in 2016.

Johanna Konta reached the semi-finals in 2019 before she lost to Marketa Vondrousova but no other British player has reached the second week of the French Open since then.

Cam Norrie entered the tournament as the 32nd seed

GETTY

There was some hope for Jack Draper and Norrie in the men’s draw after being given favourable first-round ties.

Draper was drawn against qualifier Jesper de Jong, who only made his major debut at this year’s Australian Open.

But the 22-year-old suffered a shock five-set loss to De Jong on the opening day of the tournament.

Norrie sits just above Draper in the men’s rankings as the British No 1 male player and similarly had a favourable draw against Pavel Kotov.

However, the Russian tennis star pulled off a huge upset on Monday to knock Norrie out in five sets.

Murray also suffered defeat at the hands of his old foe Stan Wawrinka in potentially his last French Open appearance.

On the women’s side, Dart and Boulter were the only British players to make the main draw after Emma Raducanu opted against going through qualifying.

Dart faced a difficult draw against No 27 seed Linda Noskova and had chances to pull off an upset.

Harriet Dart also lost her first-round match

GETTY

But she missed her chances in the first-set tiebreak and lost in the second despite holding a 4-2 lead at one point.

Boulter and Evans are now the sole remaining Brits in the draw to avoid a complete whitewash of first-round defeats.

British No 1 Boulter entered the tournament as the No 26 seed, but has been given a tricky opening-round match against Paula Badosa.

LATEST SPORT NEWS:

Andy Murray may have played in his last French Open

REUTERS

Evans faces the toughest test of any Brit though as he goes up against No 13 seed Holger Rune, who has reached the quarter-finals of the French Open for two consecutive years.

Attention will swiftly turn to the grasscourt season after the French Open where British tennis players will be expected to perform.