Cameron Norrie suffers French Open first-round defeat
The British number one was beaten in five sets by Russian world number 56 Pavel Kotov.
British number one Cameron Norrie slumped out of the French Open in the first round to Russian Pavel Kotov.
Norrie, stuck on a sparsely-populated outside court on a cold and breezy Paris afternoon in a match delayed by rain, lost in five tight sets 4-6 6-3 3-6 7-6 (5) 6-2.
The 28-year-old, seeded 32, won five games in a row after trailing 4-1 to take the first set.
Twice Norrie led by a set but twice world number 56 Kotov hit back, taking the match to a decider in a tie-break.
Kotov raced into a 4-0 lead and Norrie was unable to peg him back as he bowed out at the first-round stage for the first time since 2020.
“I’m pretty devastated with the result, the first four sets I was in control, I had so many chances,” said Norrie.
“I didn’t play well at all but I still should have won comfortably. I felt physically good, practice has been going well. I couldn’t believe I was in a fifth set.”
Norrie was joined on the British scrapheap by Harriet Dart, who lost 7-6 (3) 6-4 to Czech 27th seed Linda Noskova.
Dart said: “I felt I played an OK match to be honest, I always knew it would be a tough match. I’m just disappointed I didn’t capitalise on some of my opportunities.”
Defeats for Andy Murray and Jack Draper on Sunday means Britain’s hopes in singles now rest with Katie Boulter and Dan Evans, who play their first-round matches on Tuesday.
