French Open 2023 results: Cameron Norrie beats Benoit Paire, Jack Draper retires injured in first round

Cameron Norrie maintained British interest in the French Open singles after holding off France’s Benoit Paire in an entertaining first-round contest.

Jack Draper’s injury problems continued as he retired from his first-round match with a shoulder issue.

Dan Evans lost his opening match on Sunday and there are no British women in the main draw.

British number four Draper was forced to serve underarm midway through the first set against Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

The left-hander was beaten 6-4 in the opening set and needed physio treatment on his serving shoulder.

The 21-year-old lost when receiving in the first game of the second set before deciding he could not continue.

Draper, ranked 55th in the world, has suffered a catalogue of physical problems already in his career and this is the third successive Grand Slam match where his performance has been affected by injury.

After retiring from his US Open third-round match against Karen Khachanov with a hamstring problem, the British men’s number four was also compromised by cramping in his Australian Open defeat by Rafael Nadal.

At the start of this year he was managing a chronic hip injury – which led to the problem in New York – before hurting his abdomen at Indian Wells in March and again at Monte Carlo in April.

Draper decided to do a training block at the National Tennis Centre in London to build back up physically and returned to match action in Lyon last week.

Speaking to the British media on Sunday, he admitted he had “no idea” how this fortnight would go as he “figured out” how to get his body right.

When he started resorting to underarm serving less than 24 hours later against Etcheverry, it seemed inevitable he would not be able to carry on much longer.

Somehow Draper managed to navigate his way through the service game to hold at 4-4 and then threatened a break on Etcheverry’s serve in the next game.

But the shoulder problem was limiting his ability to serve and he was broken again before calling for physio treatment.

After talking to his team and deciding he would try to carry on, Draper lasted only one more game and trudged off court looking disconsolate.