French Open: Britain's Billy Harris on brink of Roland Garros qualification

The 29-year-old from the Isle of Man won on a deciding tie-break against France’s Manuel Guinard, coming through 6-3 3-6 7-6 (10/4) after two hours and 34 minutes.

Harris, the only one of six British players to survive the first round of qualifying at Roland Garros, has never played in the main draw of a grand slam, falling in the final qualifying round at Wimbledon last year.

A late developer, he spent his early years on the professional tour travelling and sleeping in a Ford Transit van to save money and did not win his first match on the ATP Tour until November last year.

Harris, ranked 202 in the world, will take on 14th seed Valentin Vacherot from Monaco for a place in the main draw.

There will be no final main draw appearance, though, for Dominic Thiem, who was beaten 6-2 7-5 by Finn Otto Virtanen on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Thiem, who reached the final at Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019 before winning the US Open the following year, announced earlier this month that he will retire at the end of this year because of ongoing wrist problems.