Paris, May 21 (UNI) Dan Evans beat fellow Briton Billy Harris in the first round of French Open qualifying to move a step closer to the main draw.

The 34-year-old Evans fought back from 5-2 down in the first set to beat Harris 7-5 6-3 here on

Tuesday.

Fran Jones also progressed in the women's competition, but Heather Watson's hopes of contesting an 11th French Open are over.

Watson lost 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 to Australian Daria Saville, but Jones will face Japan's Mai Hontama in the second qualifying round after defeating Croatia's Lea Boskovic 6-2 6-3.

Jan Choinski exited in the opening round of men's qualifying, losing 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to Italian Giulio Zeppieri, the BBC reported.

Players have to come through three qualifying rounds to reach the main draw.

The French Open - the second Grand Slam of the year - begins on Sunday.

Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal are already in the women's main draw, while Jack Draper, Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie will contest the men's.

Evans, ranked 215th in the world, is targeting a return to the top 100 after slipping down the rankings.

It is less than two years since he reached a career-high of 21 but, now in the twilight of his career, he has predominantly been playing his tennis on the ATP Challenger Tour, which sits below the main tour.

Evans has won just one match in seven main-draw appearances in Paris and the first set against Harris threatened to quickly run away from him.

But, having gone down an early break, Evans held to stay in the match, before turning the set on its head to lead as the unforced errors crept in to Harris' game.

And it was again Evans who finished the stronger in set two, closing out the match with another double break from 3-3 to complete a straight-set victory.

He will meet 311th-ranked French wildcard Clement Tabur next, with Romania's Filip Cristian Jianu

or German Henri Squire - both ranked lower than Evans - possible opponents in the final round.

UNI BM