Jacob Fearnley takes down former French Open champion to win on Roland Garros debut
Wawrinka defeated as young Scot keep on rising
British number two Jacob Fearnley enjoyed a dream French Open debut with a straight-sets win over former champion Stan Wawrinka.
Fearnley, who was just three years old when Wawrinka made his first appearance at Roland Garros in 2005, won 7-6 (8) 6-3 6-2 in a little over two hours.
Wawrinka’s title came 10 years ago and now, aged 40, he is by no means the force he once was. But this was still a major feather in Edinburgh-born Fearnley’s cap and with a dose of Scottish revenge for good measure – Wawrinka had knocked out Andy Murray in the opening round last year.
The crowd were overwhelmingly in favour of the veteran Swiss, but 23-year-old Fearnley shrugged off the partisan comments. “A lot of it was in French,” he said. “There were a lot of guys that were talking to me. I knew that they were supporting Stan. Honestly, it was mostly in French. They could have been saying nice things, but I doubt it…”
Fearnley will have to take on the crowd again, as his second-round match is against Frenchman and 22nd seed Ugo Humbert.
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