French Open: Katie Boulter joins Fran Jones in second round at Roland-Garros but Toby Samuel’s dream run ends | tennis news

Katie Boulter joined Fran Jones in the second round of the French Open at Roland-Garros but qualifier Toby Samuel saw her dream run come to an end.

The British No. 3 bolter, ranked 71st in the world, came through a hard-fought 6-4 4-6 6-4 win over American teenager Akasha Urhobo on Court 8.

Boulter has grown in confidence on clay over the past few seasons and comes into Paris showing encouraging form.

The 29-year-old reached the quarter-finals of the WTA 250 in Rouen before winning both singles and doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open.

He has high hopes for a deep run at Roland-Garros where he will hope to surpass his tournament best run in the second round but the Russian-born Austrian has Anastasia Potapova To argue with the latter.

Four-time champion Iga Swiatek The Australian wildcard beat Emerson Jones 6-1, 6-2 in quick time under hot sun to reach the second round.

“I’m really happy to play on this court; the first matches to get used to the conditions, I’m happy with the way I played tactically today,” said Swatek, who has lost just two matches at Roland-Garros in six years.

“Nothing comes easy. I think it’s hard to get more titles because everyone expects you to play perfectly, so you have to stay grounded and not take anything for granted.”

Swatek will play against Czech Sara Bezlek to make it to the third round.

Former finalist and Italian 13th seed Jasmine Paolini Beat Diana Yastremska 7-5, 6-3 to advance to second round with Argentina Solana Sierra, who earlier knocked out Emma Radukanu.

Ukrainian seventh seed Elena Svitolina Survived a major scare to reach the second round, coming from behind to beat Anna Bondar 3-6 6-1 7-6 (10-8).

“Obviously your support was incredible, a battle like this is never easy. It was an amazing match, I’m happy with my performance,” said Rome champion Svitolina, who has now played four consecutive three-set matches.

“A first round like that gets you going in the right direction. The mental strength got me over the line, as well as my physical condition.”

French Open exit for Samuel after great run in main draw

Toby Samuel’s Parisian adventure ended with a first-round loss to the eighth seed Alex de Minaur.

Samuel made it to Roland Garros by qualifying at his first attempt but it was a huge step as the 23-year-old had never faced a top-100 player before.

He acquitted himself well in the hot conditions on his Grand Slam debut but De Minaur was a class above in a 6-4 6-4 6-2 win.

He said: “A few months ago I didn’t think I would play someone like Alex de Minaur. Especially last year, I was outside (ranking) 1,000.

“I was a few miles away from these guys, but not as big a gap as I thought, and this week definitely showed me that and I know I can try and compete at this level.”

Samuels, another British player who chose to improve his game at a US college, had the biggest ranking rise of any male player last year, jumping from 1,867 to 266 in the world.

He continued his ascent this season and reached a career-high 159 in Paris, making him the British No. 8.

Samuel, who grew up in Dorset and now trains at Bath University, initially looked understandably nervous against De Minaur and the Australian quickly broke up.

But Samuel settled into the contest and briefly threatened to make life difficult for his opponent when he broke De Mino’s serve for 2-0 in the second set.

His advantage quickly ended, however, as Samuel bounced his racket on the ground in frustration and De Minaur ended the match with a run of five games in a row.

“It’s been a great week for me now to get on the grass, qualify here and get into the main draw, and I want to put myself in the best possible position for the main draw wild card,” said Samuel, who has collected €87,000 (around £75,000) – more than half of his entire career prize money and a designated card so far.

Stan Wawrinka’s final appearance at the French Open ended in heartbreak as he lost to the 41-year-old, who won the tournament in 2015 and is set to retire this year. Jasper de Jong 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.

of Spain Raphael Jodar Quietly began carving his own path to stardom with a 6-1 6-0 6-4 first-round win over Aleksandar Kovacevic.

“I still have a lot to learn on this tour,” said Jodar, who takes on Australia. James Duckworth Next “This is my first year and I’ve been experiencing a lot these past few months.”

Electronic line calling. Yes or no?

Roland-Garros is the only Grand Slam tournament that does not use electronic line-calling. Pierre-Hugues Herbert was furious with the umpire’s decision after believing Lorenzo Sonego’s shot was ruled out during their clash on Sunday.

Herbert shouted ‘No’ in utter disbelief. “You had the wrong sign anyway, it was on the line. No! You’re going to see it,” he said.

“Look me in the eye. You’re going to see it. It’s going to come out. And you’re going to be really, if you don’t say sorry after that, I’m not going to talk to you again. You can’t even imagine.”

Anne Keothavong and Tim Henman discuss the pros and cons of ELCs TNT Sports.

“It’s nice to see the line judges out there and the umpires going up and down – just on the ground! And by the sound of it, nothing’s going to change here,” said Billie Jean King Cup captain Keothavong.

Henman said: “I don’t think it will change what the French Tennis Federation has heard but if we have the technology, we should use it. It’s a huge success on all the other pages. It still brings a bit of controversy because you can go and see the ball mark, which is not always particularly clear, and the television will have hockeymark technology, so they sometimes disagree.

“I’m a traditionalist but said I think electronic line-calling is the way forward.”

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