PARIS — Cameron Norrie is safely into the third round of the French Open, but both Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal were defeated, ending Britain’s hopes in the women’s singles at Roland Garros.
Norrie saw off Argentine Federico Gomez 7-6 (7), 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday afternoon to book his spot in the third round where he could face Jacob Fearnley in an all-British tie.
Boulter fell in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 to Madison Keys, and Kartal lost earlier in the day to Marie Bouzkova. Their departure followed Emma Raducanu’s exit, after she fell to Iga Swiatek in straight sets on Wednesday.
With Jack Draper and Fearnley still to come, Britain are guaranteed at least one contender in the men’s singles after Norrie dispatched an injured Gomez on a humid Thursday afternoon.
Norrie had navigated an epic five-set match against Daniil Medvedev on Tuesday and he was third on Court 13 against Gomez, who knocked out Aleksandar Kovacevic in the first round.
Norrie was made to battle through the first set against the big-hitting Argentine as he took the tiebreak 9-7, as Gomez managed to save six set points before succumbing. Norrie then took the opening game of the second set as Gomez was growing visibly frustrated with his seventh double fault. That seventh resulted in Gomez slamming his racket to the floor.
The Brit then broke Gomez again in the fifth and ended up taking the second set 6-2. Norrie kept his foot on the throttle in the third, breaking Gomez early with the Argentine in visible discomfort. He looked to be struggling with both back and leg troubles and from there Norrie closed things out. He will play either Fearnley or Ugo Humbert on Saturday.
Elsewhere, on a quiet Court Philippe-Chatrier, Boulter faced Australian Open champion Keys.
Boulter battled past Carole Monnet in three sets 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-1 on Tuesday, but Keys offered an altogether sterner test.
A double fault from Boulter handed Keys a break of serve in the fourth game, and then Keys forced three break points in the sixth as Boulter struggled to find her range. Boulter managed to claw those back, but after a lengthy exchange at deuce, she double-faulted to give Keys her second break, and from there she served out to take the first set 6-1.
Keys broke Boulter again at the start of the second with double faults again letting the Brit down. In contrast, Keys’ serve was ruthless, and kept Boulter at bay. Boulter’s serve was again far too unreliable in the fifth as she made her eighth double fault of the match. That handed Keys a second break of serve, but Boulter still rallied.
She got one break of serve back to make it 5-3, but Keys responded with her fifth break of serve to take the third set 6-3. Keys will play the winner of Victoria Azarenka’s match with Sofia Kenin.
“Yeah, I feel like I could have done better. I do,” Boulter said. “I think that’s where I have to look at myself and talk to my team a little bit about where I can improve.
“But I felt like I didn’t have a great serving day. I think if you don’t have a great serving day against someone like that, you’re always under pressure on your own serve. I think almost every service game I hit a double-fault, which I’ve done that before and kind of bounced back. Against someone like that, with that calibre behind her, you just can’t afford to do that.
“I think that’s where I was a little bit disappointed in my serving today. Maybe if I’d served a little bit better, I could have put some more pressure on her service games. I felt like at the very start I was doing that in the first two games, after that when I got broken, I didn’t have much to look in.
“That’s the difference with these players. When they gain a little bit of confidence, they start swinging free a little bit more. Ultimately they’re going to try to put you away as quickly as possible. They’ve got that number by their name for that reason. You’ve got to try to stay with them as much as possible. Unfortunately I let it go a little bit early today.”
Back at the start of day five, Kartal was knocked out in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 to Bouzkova. Kartal had come through a first round clash against Erika Andreeva, but fell short against Bouzkova.
