British No 1 Cam Norrie OUT of French Open after suffering first round defeat by Pavel Kotov in five sets… meaning only TWO Brits are left in singles draws

British No 1 Cameron Norrie slumped out of the French Open in the first round to Russian Pavel Kotov.

Norrie, stuck on a sparsely-populated outside court on a cold and breezy Paris afternoon in a match delayed by rain, lost in five tight sets 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

The 28-year-old, seeded 32, won five games in a row after trailing 4-1 to take the first set.

Twice Norrie led by a set but twice world No 56 Kotov hit back, taking the match to a decider in a tie-break.

Kotov raced into a 4-0 lead and Norrie was unable to peg him back as he bowed out at the first-round stage for the first time since 2020.

Norrie was joined on the British scrapheap by Harriet Dart, who lost 7-6 (3) 6-4 to Czech 27th seed Linda Noskova.

Defeats for Andy Murray and Jack Draper on Sunday means Britain’s hopes in singles now rest with Katie Boulter and Dan Evans, who play their first-round matches on Tuesday.

Russian Pavel Kotov came from a set down to take the deciding set by a tie-break