Andy Murray will again be the only British man in the main draw at the French Open after his fellow-Scot, Jamie Baker, was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by Spain's Daniel Munoz- De La Nava in the second round of qualifying last night,.
Baker had been an impressive winner of his first-round match but he was no match for the clay-court craft of the Spanish left-hander who has a world ranking of No.130, 76 places above the Glaswegian.
Two British youngsters won through their opening ties in the women's qualifying competition. Heather Watson, the fifth-seed from Gurnsey, breezed past Canada's Sharon Fichman 6-1, 6-2 to set up a meeting with the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, while Laura Robson, the 15th-seeded 18-year-old from England, made it through with an impressive 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory over the Spaniard Estrella Cabeza Candela.
Twelve months ago, Watson became the first British woman to qualify at the tournament since Kate Brasher in 1983, while her first-round victory over Stephanie Foretz Gacon was the first in the main draw by a British woman since Clare Wood in 1994. That run took the 20-year-old into the top 100, but she has struggled for form and fitness this season and is currently ranked 109th.
Robson is aiming to make the main draw at a fourth successive grand slam having been given a wild card at Wimbledon and come through qualifying at both the US Open and the Australian Open.
Naomi Broady, the British No.5, was unable to join them, crushed 6-0, 6-1 by Sesil Karatantcheva, of Kazakhstan, only avoiding the dreaded double-bagel by winning the penultimate game.
*Andy Murray will test his niggling back injury against the Latvian Ernests Gulbis in the Guinot Mary Cohr Masters exhibition tournament in Paris today in his final warm-up match before the French Open.
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