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 men’s number one Norrie plays another Frenchman, qualifier Lucas Pouille, in the second round on Wednesday.

Norrie maintains British interest in the singles

When Draper retired while Norrie was battling to survive against 34-year-old Paire, it felt like it could be another chastening day for British tennis.

Only three singles players from the nation made the main draws at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament, with another 10 losing in the qualifying events.

Emma Raducanu is absent after having surgeries on wrist and ankle injuries, while Andy Murray pulled out because he wanted to focus on preparing his body for the upcoming grass-court season.

No British players reached the second round on the Paris clay in 2020 and another first-round wipe-out looked on the cards with Norrie trailing.

But the 27-year-old dug deep against the unpredictable Paire and maintained his composure in a partisan atmosphere at Roland Garros.

After edging a tight opening set, momentum swung away from Norrie following what seemed to be a harsh hindrance call from umpire Nico Helwerth in the third game of the second.

Helwerth adjudged Norrie to have shouted after hitting the ball to put off Paire – who also looked confused – and it enabled the Frenchman to break for a 2-1 lead.

With the vociferous backing of the jubilant home fans, Paire fed off their energy and was locked in during a third set where Norrie twice lost serve early on.

But Norrie is known as one of the most composed players on the ATP Tour, showing his mental resilience to reset and level the match after a one-sided fourth set.

Despite losing serve in a poor start to the decider, Norrie upped his level again and his greater endurance – mental and physical – proved decisive in a strong finish.

More physical issues for Draper

British number four Draper was forced to serve underarm midway through the first set against Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry and it was no surprise when he retired shortly afterwards.

The 21-year-old left-hander was beaten 6-4 in the opening set, needing physio treatment on his serving shoulder before gamely trying to continue.

Draper lost the first game of the second set when he was receiving and decided he could not continue after his next two service points.

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.

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.

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.