Katie Boulter battled to just her second career win at the French Open.
The 29-year-old has never been particularly at home on clay, but she has committed to trying to improve in recent years and her experience ultimately told against American teenager Akasha Urhobo in a 6-4 4-6 6-4 victory.
Urhobo was given a wild card for a first trip to Paris as part of a reciprocal agreement between the three other grand slam nations, and the 19-year-old certainly has potential.
There was nothing subtle about this contest between two power hitters as they bought sought control of the baseline, but the 93 unforced errors they made between them rather told the story of a scrappy match.
Urhobo made a nervous start and Boulter, who reached the second round for the first time last year, was quickly 3-0 up, however, the British number three never looked comfortable and served seven double faults.
Boulter eventually clinched the opening set after seeing a second break drift away, but she was unable to stamp her authority on the contest and a woeful service game midway through the second set cost her.
She moved ahead early again in the decider only to fail to serve out the victory, but Boulter made it across the finish line in the end to set up a second-round clash with 28th seed Anastasia Potapova.
Elsewhere, four-times French Open champion Iga Swiatek charged into the second round with a comfortable 6-1 6-2 win over Australian Emerson Jones. Swiatek has had a poor spell of results in recent months but a return to the Paris clay offered her the perfect platform to rediscover her form.
“I’m really happy with the way I played,” she said. “It was a solid match from the beginning to the end. I technically knew how to play, so I just did it, and it was a good day, for sure.”
In the men’s tournament, Alex de Minaur swept aside Great Britain’s Toby Samuel in straight sets for a 6-4 6-4 6-2 victory despite some fine play from the Brit.
And 41-year-old Stan Wawrinka waved a fond goodbye to the French Open after losing 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4 to Jesper de Jong in a thrilling first round clash. The three-time Grand Slam winner, who is retiring at the end of the season, made his final Roland Garros appearance 21 years after his first and said goodbye after his final game.
“It’s hard, it’s hard to say goodbye to you here,” an emotional Wawrinka said. “It’s because of Roland Garros that I wanted to become a tennis player.
“For more than 20 years I experienced these emotions, you never want it to stop. I have given everything for this sport.”
