Erlich wins doubles opener at French Open

Israel’s sole representative at this year’s French Open won his first round doubles match on Wednesday afternoon.

Jonathan Erlich, teaming up with GB’s Colin Fleming, made light work of their first round clash against Spain’s Inigo Cervantes and Italian Paolo Lorenzi, cruising to a 6-3, 6-0 win.

They next face the 14th seeds, Canadian Daniel Nestor and Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi for a place in the third round.

Erlich is the only Israeli left in the senior competitions in Paris, after Dudi Sela suffered a first round exit in the men’s doubles, following his exit of the singles competition at the same stage. Playing alongside Denys Molchanov, the Israeli-Ukrainian duo were beaten 7-5, 7-5 by Frenchmen Stephane Robert and Alexandre Sidorenko.

Argentine Diego Schwartzman‘s tournament is also over after he and Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili were knocked out of the men’s doubles, beaten 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 by Croatian Ivo Karlovic and Indian Purav Raja. Schwartzman had earlier been knocked out of the singles in the first round.

Italian Camila Giorgi suffered a second round exit on Thursday afternoon after she lost to the Netherlands’ Kiki Bertens, 6-4, 6-1.