Jack Draper puts seal on a sensational French Open first round for Brits as he fights back to win at Roland Garros for the first time

Daily Mail​

27-05-2025

Jack Draper has a win in the French Open at last, as the No5 seed came from a set down to beat Mattia Bellucci and put the seal on a sensational first three days for the British contingent.
After victories for Cam Norrie and Sonay Kartal earlier in the day, and Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Jacob Fearnley on Monday, Britain has six first-round winners for the first time since 1973.
Off all those winners, Draper seemed the most nailed on, despite having lost in the first round on his two previous visits to Paris.
But his 23-year-old Italian opponent played lights out tennis in the first set. When you wear a bandana it is incumbent upon you to play with a certain piratical swagger and Bellucci certainly does that. Draper struggled to deal with his sprinkling of dropshots and angled forehands, and there was the added awkwardness of facing a fellow leftie.
The world No 68 streaked into a 5-1 lead and eventually sealed the set with a superb underarm serve, cunningly disguised and devilishly sliced.
From Draper's point of view there was no need for undue panic at this stage. Bellucci was having to come up with outlandish stuff to win points - surely it couldn't last?
It did not. Draper's recent runs to this final in Madrid and the quarters in Rome demonstrated his increasing potency on clay and he cruised through the final three sets.
'He came out, played really aggressive from the start, some amazing shots, caught me a little bit off guard,' he said. 'I'm really proud of the way I was able to turn it around.
'It's not about how you start it's how you finish and I think I finished pretty well.'
The match was played under the Suzanne Lenglen roof after some sporadic rain, and Draper said: 'It's a bit more humid indoors, you can't get the same amount of speed on the ball but I thought I adapted pretty well after the first set.'
Bellucci simply could not cope with the relentless, concussive blows: big serves, punched backhands, heavily topspun forehands. Draper ground him down and it was his greater consistency which made the difference: 26 unforced errors compared to 41 from his opponent. There were 43 winners from the Draper racket, including 11 aces. After the rocky start this was an superb performance.
What a contrast it all was to this time last year, when Draper went down in five sets to Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong. He looked utterly rudderless: caught between his scrappy, defensive instincts and an ultra-aggressive gameplan being urged upon him by new coach Wayne Ferreira.
Ferreira is gone and Draper has found a fine balance. He looks to attack but is happy to grind it out, as he often had to here. Most of all, he has become one of the most relentless competitors on tour, never conceding an inch, never allowing his level to drop for long.
For his next opponent, he was awaiting the result of the night session match between Bolivian Hugo Dellien and national hero Gael Monfils.
Meanwhile, fellow Brit Kartal, who also claimed her first French Open victory, has plans to celebrate with a trip to a Parisian tattoo parlour.
The 23-year-old thrashed Erika Andreeva 6-0, 6-2 on her Roland Garros debut and on Wednesday will get inked for the 14th time.
'I had one booked tomorrow at 11am,' said the British No3. 'But I'm on at 11am (in the doubles with Jodie Burrage). My sister just texted me and she's changed it to 4pm.
'Not actually sure what I'm going to get. I know she wants to get one, as well, so she's booked it. I think she wants matching, so I'll get whatever she wants.
An Eiffel Tower to commemorate the moment? 'I would like to go back on a different day, as well,' she replied. 'Maybe once I'm finished here I'll get something that resembles the French Open.'