British No.2 Cam Norrie booked his place in the second round of the French Open after defeating America’s Bjorn Fratangelo 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Norrie continues his fine form for the season, bagging his 24th victory on tour so far in 2021 – only Stefanos Tstitsipas and Andrey Rublev have recorded more.

World No.198 Fratangelo put up a strong fight against the Brit, pushing him all the way in the opening two sets. Norrie quickly recovered from an early break in the first set and held his nerve on several lengthy service games to take the lead.

This gave the British star a new lease of confidence as he raced to a 4-1 lead in the second, but Fratangelo wasn’t going to go down easily. The American fought back to level up the scores at 4-4 and eventually force a tiebreak. The pair were neck and neck throughout until Norrie clinched a mini break at 5-5 and sealed the set with a booming ace to make it 7-6 (5).

It didn’t take long for Norrie to close out the match winning the final set 6-2. He will face the winner of Lloyd Harris and Lorenzo Sonego in round two.

Also in action on day two, Britain’s Johanna Konta lost 7-6 (5), 6-2 to World No.54 Sorana Cirstea.

Both players struggled to get into the match with breaks in each of the first three games. It was Konta who held her nerve first, playing some punishing groundstrokes from the baseline. However, Cirstea broke back to level at 4-4 and edged a very close tiebreak 7-5.

Having gone a set up, Cirstea reached a new gear and broke the Brits twice on her way to completing the victory.

Elsewhere, Heather Watson bowed out in the opening round, losing 6-4, 7-5 to Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas 6-4, 7-5.

Watson started brightly, breaking in the first game to nudge ahead, but suffered a dip mid-way through the set, which allowed her opponent to take advantage. It was a similar story in the second set, with the British No.2 taking a 4-2 lead but Diyas wouldn’t back down. Watson pushed Diyas all the way to the end but it just wasn’t to be on the day.

Yesterday’s action saw 25th seed Dan Evans lose his first round match against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

A dream start for Evans saw him win the first five games without reply as Kecmanovic struggled to get a foothold in the match. But after losing the opening set the World No.48 managed to reset and turn the match on its head.

He broke the Brit early in both the second and third sets to go in front and despite a late fightback from Evans, the Serbian closed out the match in the fourth.

Konta and Watson will now begin their grass court season at the Viking Open Nottingham, while Evans returns to the cinch Championships in two weeks’ time.