Roland Garros 2025: Jack Draper & Sonay Kartal clinch first career wins in Paris

Draper held his nerve to see off world no.68 Mattia Bellucci 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, while Kartal thrashed Erika Andreeva 6-0, 6-2 in just over an hour.

For both Draper and Kartal this marked their first career victories at the French Open in a landmark day for the British stars.

They join Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu, Jacob Fearnley and Cam Norrie in the second round – the first time six Brits have made the second round since 1973.

It’s the first time in the Open Era that three British men and three British women have won first round matches at Roland Garros.

Both players will have to wait to find out who they play next. Draper will play Gael Monfils next, who staged an epic five-set comeback in his opening round, while Kartal takes on Marie Bouzkova.

Draper recovers to put in a statement performance

Draper’s impressive victory over Bellucci now puts him at 23 wins for the season as he aims to capitalise on a good run of form with a deep run in the French capital.

After coming through a tough first round battle, Draper said: “He came out and was playing really aggressive from the start, hit some amazing shots and caught me a little off guard.

“I’m really proud of the way I was able to turn the match on its head. I started to play more aggressive. It was a really tough battle and credit to Mattia he played incredible.

“In the end, it’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish and I think I did that pretty well.

Playing in his first Grand Slam main draw on ranking and on his favourite surface, Bellucci came out full of energy and looking to entertain the crowd on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

He got off to an electric start – winning eight from eight of his first service games and breaking the world No.5 early to move out to a 5-1 lead.

The Italian went on to close out the set at the second time of asking with a quick underarm serve after 49 minutes.

Draper’s level had been growing towards the end of the first set and with the chance to start anew in the second, he fired his way back into the match. The Brit lost just three points behind his serve and broke twice in a devastating second set display that silenced what had been a vocal crowd.

Bellucci just couldn’t find any chinks in the British No.1’s armour to exploit. Draper is enjoying the best season of his career at the moment and the level and physicality he’s able to consistently bring, point after point stood him proved the difference between the two.

Two sets to the good at 2-2 in the fourth, Draper crushed a forehand return winner to break to love in what would prove to be the killer blow for Bellucci. Any type of comeback proved a step too far for the Italian as Draper saw off four games in a row to see himself safely through to the second round.

Kartal shows clay-court quality against Andreeva

Kartal looked full of confidence as she took down Andreeva to seal her first Grand Slam win outside of Wimbledon and move inside the WTA top 50 in the live rankings for the first time.

“Obviously it was a pretty convincing scoreline, but I don't think either of us played our best tennis,” said Kartal. “I think that we probably both had nerves. Mentally I was super tough. Managed to just always keep that lead. I think after that first set, I think you always expect your opponent to come out and start to get kind of fired up and play a little bit better, which obviously she did.

“I’m happy I kept the momentum going and never let her really get insight into that match.

Reflecting on how far she’s come this year, Kartal added: “I think I've had a good start to the year, I've had a good clay season, maybe not the results I've wanted, but I feel like I'm playing well. I'm handling the new experiences well. Things are becoming more familiar for me, as well. I’m super proud of where I am today and not taking anything for granted.”

Kartal wasted no time in her opening round match against Andreeva in the most one-sided British contest of the opening round at Roland Garros.

The British No.3 came into her first match at Roland Garros with strong performances on the clay at the Billie Jean King Cup and victories in Madrid and Rome and showed her quality on the surface.

Andreeva looked out of sorts as Kartal took the opening set in just 31 minutes and the claimed a break at the start of the second to make it eight straight games for the Brit.

The world No.102 got herself on the board but the unforced error count proved a real issue – reaching 29 for the match. A fifth break at the backend of set all but confirmed the win for Kartal who will look to take great encouragement into her second round match.