Cameron Norrie saves the blushes of British tennis and cruises through to the second round of the French Open with straight-sets win over American Bjorn Fratangelo
- Cameron Norrie took a 7-5, 7-6, 6-2 victory over American Bjorn Fratangelo
- He will face the winner of South Africa’s Lloyd Harris and Italian Lorenzo Sonego
- The 25-year-old could face French Open great Rafael Nadal in the third round
Cam Norrie saved the blushes of British tennis when he made it through to the second round of the French Open and spared a repeat of last year’s singles wipeout.
The 25 year-old lefthander cemented his position as GB’s currently most consistent performers in the Grand Slams by defeating American qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo 7-5 7-6 6-2 in two and a half hours.
He was left awaiting the winner of South Africa’s Lloyd Harris and Italian Lorenzo Sonego, and could yet meet Rafael Nadal in the third round.
Cameron Norrie is enjoying his best season to date and advances to the second round
The left-hander has cemented himself as Britain’s most consistent Grand Slam performer
Norrie is enjoying his best season on the ATP Tour and maintained his recent form, which has seen him make two finals in the past month, to progress.
Fratangelo will have been confident after winning three preliminary matches but on another warm day at Roland Garros did not have the penetration to dislodge Norrie.
He wavered when serving a double fault at 5-3 in the tiebreak but immediately recovered to go two sets up and was never troubled in the third to notch his 24th win of the season.
Jo Konta was waiting to play Sorana Cirstea but Heather Watson earlier went down to a disappointing 6-4 7-5 defeat against Kazakhstan’s Zarina Dyas.
In a match packed with breaks of serve Watson led in both sets but did not have the quality to sustain her lead. Having lost what was a winnable match she maintains her record of not getting past the third round in any of her 39 Grand Slams.
British number one Dan Evans suffered a shock first round defeat on Sunday afternoon