French Open: Jack Draper fights back to complete historic day for Brits at Roland Garros
Jack Draper completed a historic day for Britain at the French Open by beating Mattia Bellucci to reach the second round.
The 23-year-old British men's No1 recovered from a slow start to win 3-6 6-1 6-4 6-2 under the roof on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Draper joins the rest of the Brit pack; Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter, Sonay Kartal, Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie, in the second round - the first time the nation has had six first-round winners at Roland Garros since 1973.
It is a far cry from last year, when Draper was among the six first-round losers, as Britain suffered a depressing total wipeout.
Draper seemed to be caught cold at the start of the match, with world No68 Bellucci audaciously wrapping up the first set with an underarm serve.
But Draper, up to four in the world in the live ATP rankings, eventually found his rhythm and eased to his maiden victory at the Paris Grand Slam in two hours and 35 minutes.
"Bellucci came out and played really aggressively from the start, playing some amazing shots and caught me a little bit off guard," he said.
"I'm proud of the way I managed to turn the match around. It's not about how you start, it's how you finish."
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GO FURTHER French Open recap: Chaos, comebacks, crowds and curious scheduling at Roland Garros It was a wonderful ending to the fifth day on Thursday, as Jack Draper (5) edged past home favorite Gaël Monfils on Philippe-Chatrier as the clock ticked towards midnight in Paris. There were plenty of thrills and spills throughout the day too, with Jakub Menšík and ninth seed Alex de Minaur crashing out of the men's singles, while Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková (15) was thrashed by Veronika Kudermetova in the women's singles too. And you can recap how everything happened, play by play, in our live coverage here. Enjoy. We would love to hear from you. Whether it's a question you have always wanted answered (why is it 'love' instead of zero?), a comment, or an observation... We welcome it all. Send us an email at: live@ — and we'll feature the best of what we receive in this live coverage. Don't be shy. Get typing. Stade Roland Garros, Paris, France The stadium complex is in the 16th arrondissement (district) of the French capital city. Court Philippe-Chatrier, Suzanne-Lenglen, and Simonne-Mathieu are the show courts here. It's the only clay-court major and it's a classic staple on the tennis calendar. It's a busy time in the sports world — and the calendar is only getting busier as we head into the summer. The Premier League season might be over but we have the Club World Cup and Women's Euros to look forward to in the soccer. Plus the Formula One and MLB seasons are continuing and Wimbledon isn't far away either. The Athletic is your one-stop shop to follow all those sports and more, with our industry-leading coverage. So what are you waiting for? Sign up on an exclusive offer here. 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Iga Świątek, Aryna Sabalenka, Americans Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul, and plenty of others will be in action today, and we'll have it all covered, right here. Why would you want to be anywhere else?
