Tuesday, May 20 2025 | Time 23:08 Hrs(IST)
SportsPosted at: May 20 2025 5:33PM


Watson's French Open hopes over but Jones advances

Paris, May 20 (UNI) Heather Watson's hopes of reaching the French Open main draw are over but fellow Briton Fran Jones progressed to the second round of qualifying.
Watson, aiming for an 11th main-draw appearance at Roland Garros, lost 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 to Australian Daria Saville.
Jones defeated Croatia's Lea Boskovic 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with Japan's Mai Hontama.
Players have to come through three qualifying rounds in Paris to reach the main draw.
Britain's 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.
Britons Dan Evans and Billy Harris go head-to-head in men's qualifying later on Tuesday.
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.
Momentum swung back and forth in the opening set between Watson and Saville, with the Briton rallying to a 4-2 lead after initially going a break down, only for Saville to level up.
Watson, ranked four places higher than Saville at 130, battled back from 40-0 down on serve to
move within one game from the opening set, but she was unable to take her first set point.
A tie-break was confirmed by another exchange of breaks - but not before Watson initially refused
to continue the match after being given a second time violation by the chair umpire.
She claimed she had been waiting for a ball to be returned to her, rather than deliberately delaying the point, but the umpire disagreed.
Saville ultimately stepped in and asked the umpire to give Watson her first serve back.
The Australian former world number 20 then dominated the tie-break and carried that momentum
into the second set, quickly establishing a 3-0 lead.
Watson briefly threatened a comeback when she broke back for 3-2, but Saville was able to reset
and closed out victory with another three-game streak.
Jones, ranked 113th, produced a dominant display to see off Boskovic - losing serve for the first
time when serving for the match before recovering to close it out at the second attempt.
The 24-year-old is aiming to qualify for the second overseas slam of her career, having reached the Australian Open main draw in 2021.
UNI BM
Tags: #Watson's French Open hopes over but Jones advances
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