Cameron Norrie pulled off a great escape not just for him but for British tennis as he edged out Benoit Paire in front of a fervent crowd at the French Open.
With no women in the singles draw, Dan Evans losing on day one and Jack Draper withdrawing injured earlier on Monday, there was the prospect of a repeat of 2020 when no Britons made it to round two.
But in a match high in drama , Norrie recovered from a controversial hindrance call in the second set he branded “unacceptable” as well as being a break down in the fifth to win 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Paire has a history for blowing hot and cold and so it proved with a brand of all or, in the case of the fourth set when he appeared to give up without a fight, nothing tennis.
He had never beaten a top-20 player at his home grand slam and had just two wins against top-20 players in the past five years.
But buoyed by a fervent home crowd, which cheered his every move and unleashed a rendition of La Marseillaise and repeated Mexican waves, he lifted his game to levels not regularly seen.
In contrast, Norrie struggled to find his rhythm for much of the match as has been the case for the European leg of the clay-court season. He repeatedly struggled with his ball toss, for which he was booed by the crowd, but his grit, determination and superior fitness eventually won out.
The fact that British hopes now rest solely on Norrie should make for worrying reading for tennis authorities back in the UK but at least the reality of a third time in a decade with no Brits in round two was avoided.
Norrie marginally deserved to take a first set which had 14 break points in all, eight for the home favourite who could only convert one, and the rest for Norrie who twice found a breakthrough.
Paire made the first break to go 4-3 ahead only for Norrie to immediately break back and a Norrie hold at 6-5 seemed to erase his opponent’s resolve and he was broken to concede a first set just shy of two minutes.
For much of the next two sets, Norrie, renowned for his consistency on tour, was undone by some bizarre shot selection. A key early turning point came in game three when both seemed to think Norrie had won the game only for the umpire to call a hindrance against the Briton for apparently shouting during the point, which seemed inaudible on court, and from there he was broken.
To his credit, he barely remonstrated and had three chances to immediately break back but couldn’t make any of them count. Shouts of “Allez Benoit” reverberated around Court Suzanne Lenglen as Paire won the set and also the third leaving Norrie with a mountain to climb.
Of that hindrance call a day after Dan Evans was controversially foot faulted at a key moment, Norrie said: “I don’t know why he felt it necessary to get involved there, especially as he gave me no warning whatsoever and it was a big point. It ultimately changed the momentum of the match.
“Even with Evo yesterday, I watched that, and he was nowhere near foot faulting and the guy is calling him on the other side of the net. For them to get involved in that was, for me, doesn’t make any sense. I’m here playing tennis, competing as hard as I can... I’m fighting my ass off and one call of that could obviously influence the match. I think it’s obviously unacceptable.”
Come set four, the Paire of old came to the fore as he looked physically shattered and barely put up a fight as the set dragged on.
But any sense that Norrie might cruise to the win immediately evaporated as Norrie was broken in the opening game of the deciding set in the Parisian sunshine.
In a undulating decider which could have gone either way, Norrie forced his way back level at four apiece leaving Paire to serve to stay in the match, which he couldn’t do after a little over three-and-a-half hours.
