| 2019 French Open |
|---|
| Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 26 May-9 June |
| Coverage: Live text and radio commentary on selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app. |
British number one Kyle Edmund needed only seven minutes to book his place in the French Open second round as he wrapped up victory in his interrupted match against Jeremy Chardy.
Resuming at 5-5 in the fifth set after bad light stopped play on Monday, Edmund won 7-6 (7-1) 5-7 6-4 4-6 7-5 at Roland Garros in Paris.
British number two Cameron Norrie lost 6-3 6-0 6-2 to French qualifier Elliot Benchetrit, while Dan Evans was beaten 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-2 by Spanish 23rd seed Fernando Verdasco.
It means Edmund and British women’s number one Johanna Konta are the country’s only representatives in the second round of the singles.
Edmund made to battle in patchy performance
Edmund has dropped to 30th in the world rankings, down from 14th at the start of the year, after five successive defeats on the clay which he once described as his preferred surface.
The Yorkshireman’s attitude to his form has been rather stoic, saying there was no need to panic because he knew he was a good player.
He showed glimpses of his undoubted talent on Court One throughout the opening set – finishing in style with a dominant tie-break – before the streaky Chardy, backed by a raucous home crowd, broke twice in the second set to level.
Edmund’s unforced errors increased to 34 in the third set as he let a 4-2 lead slip, recovering to snatch back the break in the decisive 10th game.
The light began to fade in Paris and the danger of play being suspended grew as Chardy broke twice in the fourth and Edmund could not prevent it going to a gruelling decider.
Edmund crucially held off two break points at 2-2 in the fifth before the match was suspended at 5-5 – to the displeasure of a booing French crowd.
When the match resumed on Tuesday, Edmund started quickly by holding serve, then breaking to claim victory and book a meeting with Uruguayan world number 47 Pablo Cuevas.
“After having a bit of a rest, I knew I could really go intense – for half an hour or 20 minutes or however long it took,” Edmund said.
“That was my aim, to come out really firing and impose myself on him.”
The 28th seed has now made it past the opening round in all five of his appearances in Paris.
Analysis
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Fuelled by six hours sleep, and a breakfast of cereal, chocolate croissant and scrambled eggs, Edmund played a near perfect seven minutes of tennis.
It was all that was required.
The British number one says “mental engagement” was the most important part of his warm-up. He ran through the scenario in his mind, anticipating plenty of noise, and telling himself he needed to be “on it from the word go.”
A first win for 50 days sets up a second-round match with Pablo Cuevas. If there’s a clay-court tournament on somewhere in the world, the chances are the Uruguayan will be there.
Norrie out after dismal display
British number two Norrie’s hopes of joining Edmund in round two were ended when he was out-powered by world number 273 Benchetrit.
The 23-year-old, ranked 49th in the world, looked devoid of belief and failed to muster a break point until the final game, losing serve six times.
Benchetrit, 20, needed only one hour 27 minutes to earn his first Grand Slam main-draw win, taking control by claiming nine games in a row from the back end of the first set.
By that time Benchetrit was already causing problems for Norrie with his hefty serve and potent forehand.
Benchetrit hit 29 winners as Norrie produced 33 unforced errors in a dismal display.
“I never found my level at all. I didn’t execute anything,” Norrie said.
He will team up with Evans, who spent almost two hours longer on court against Verdasco, in the doubles on Wednesday.
Clay is Evans’ weakest surface and the 29-year-old has now lost in the first round in both appearances at Roland Garros.
At times he pushed a player who has reached the fourth round in Paris seven times before running out of steam and needing treatment on his right calf in the fourth set.
“It was a difficult match, Fernando is a great player and I couldn’t get in front at all and that’s when you find out what the other guy is like,” Evans said.
“I felt he was pretty comfortable all the way through, he was always just ahead of me.
“It is unfortunate I didn’t get the result but I thought I played pretty well. I feel my level is very close to the top guys again. There is nothing to be negative about.”
