Cameron Norrie tamed a flakey Frenchman and his unstable dwelling crowd to battle by way of the French Open second spherical - and keep away from a complete British singles wipeout by the primary Monday lunchtime right here. Earlier Jack Draper had adopted Dan Evans out of Paris when he retired with an belly damage within the second set of his match towards Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

And British No 1 Norrie appeared set to affix them on the Eurostar earlier than preventing again to win a rollercoaster five-set match towards wildcard Benoit Paire 7-5 4-6 3-6 6-1 6-4. Only three British males had entered the singles - and no ladies with Emma Raducanu recovering from surgical procedure.

And Norrie’s gutsy win noticed Britain keep away from failing to win a singles match right here for the second time this decade after everybody misplaced in 2020. The Wimbledon semi-finalist beat world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz to win the ultimate in Rio on clay in February and reached the semi-finals on the Lyon Open final week.

And he wanted all his big-match expertise to outlive amid pandemonium on a packed Court Suzanne-Lenglen the place native favorite Paire was cheered after each winner - and Norrie acquired pantomime boos when he challenged calls or caught his ball toss.

He will face one other Frenchman, qualifier Lucas Pouille, within the subsequent spherical on Wednesday. “It was an amazing match and all credit to Benoit,” Norrie stated. “He played really well and we put on a good show. The support for both players was amazing. I had to fight back really hard. It is fortunate that it went my way in the fifth set but I am pleased to get through after a tough one.”

In a decent first set, Norrie saved 5 break factors at 5-5 earlier than breaking to take the primary set 7.5. But momentum modified within the third recreation of the second set when Norrie misplaced some extent on a hindrance name at 30-30. German umpire Nico Helwerth judged that the British No 1’s had grunted throughout the level to place off the Frenchman - though Paire thought it was initially made towards him.

It was the second controversial name towards a British participant in two days after Evans was known as for foot-fault for his again foot crossing the centre line throughout his defeat on Sunday Paire, who's extra gifted than his present rating of world No 149, broke to steer 2-1 after which saved three break factors within the subsequent recreation to steer 3-1 as he began whipping up the gang.

Chants of ‘Allez Benoit’ and ‘Ole, ole’ rang out across the packed Court Suzanne-Lenglen - and the restart was delayed by Mexican waves and passionate singing of La Marseillaise. The wildcard took his first set level with a forehand winner and pointed to his head because the French followers went wild.

Paire now had his tail up and took the third set along with his third break of serve earlier than this rollercoaster match turned once more. Norrie raced to the fourth set 6-1 in solely 25 minutes as Paire seemed injured or disinterested - or saving himself for the fifth set after two hours and 46 minutes.

It appeared just like the final choice because the French wildcard broke Norrie within the opening service recreation - after which saved three break factors at 2-1. But the world No 13 confirmed true grit to battle again and took his second match level with a forehand winner after three hours and 33 minutes.