GB's Fearnley reaches second round at Geneva Open

Jacob Fearnley was ranked 645th in the world at the end of 2023

British number two Jacob Fearnley continued his French Open preparations with victory over Dusan Lajovic to reach the second round of the Geneva Open.

The 23-year-old defeated wildcard Lajovic of Serbia 6-4 6-1 to become the first British player to win a match at the tournament and will face Australia's Alexei Popyrin next.

Fearnley rose to a career-high 54th in the world after reaching the Madrid Open's third round in April, having contested his first professional match on clay in Barcelona earlier that month.

Former British number one Cameron Norrie also advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 victory over Swiss player Dominic Stricker.

The French Open - the second Grand Slam of the year - begins on Sunday.

Fearnley was ranked outside the top 600 at the start of 2024 but won four ATP Challenger titles to climb inside the top 100 by September.

He has five wins from eight matches on clay - the surface used at Roland Garros for the French Open - since playing his first last month.

Fearnley exchanged breaks of serve with former top-25 player Lajovic in each of the opening four games.

But he took control of the match by breaking for a 5-4 lead and serving out the opening set, before dominating the second.

Fearnley won six consecutive games following Lajovic's initial hold of serve to wrap up victory in 72 minutes.

Norrie's match against Stricker, who is ranked 233rd in the world, was suspended by rain later on Monday with the Briton leading 7-6 (7-2) 3-1.

But the 29-year-old quickly powered to victory after the delay and will face Czech world number 21 Tomas Machac in the last 16.