Kiwis put up strong fight in Grand Slam debut

Years of hard work for Kiwi tennis stars, James Watt and Finn Reynolds came to fruition today at Roland-Garros when they realised their long held ambition to play in a grand slam main draw.

Although they lost 6-7 3-6 to the higher ranked Czech pair of Adam Pavlasek and Patrik Rikl, the kiws produced some high quality tennis and tested their more experienced opponents.

It was a very special occasion for Watt and Reynolds, who made their grand slam debut today with only a day's notice. As fifth alternatives for the tournament they needed four other combinations to withdraw to gain direct entry into the main draw of 64. The current heatwave in Paris worked in their favour and the necessary withdrawls occurred.

Watt and Reynolds started the day's play on court 2 in warm conditions in Paris with temparatures hovering around 26 deg.C expected to rise to around 32 deg.C later in the day.

Such was their enthusiasm from the kiwis, they were on court well before their opponents, soaking up the atmostphere of the event.

The kiwis showed no sign of nerves and started strongly with Watt holding his opening service game, further cemented with Reynolds also holding his first service game of the set.

They broke their more experienced opponents in the fourth game of the set with several blistering returns of serve, the first from Watt, followed by a down-the-line winner from Reynolds for a 3-1 lead in the set which they extended to 4-1 on Watt's service. 

Playing inspired, aggressive tennis they continued to put pressure on their opponents and served for the set leading 5-3. However the Czech pair played a strong ninth game with Watt and Reynolds saving two break points before they were eventually broken to reduce their lead to 5-4. The set then went to a tiebreak which they lost 4-7, with Pavlasek and Rikl taking the set 7-6. 

In the second set the Czech pair had the advantage of serving first, with games going with service until the sixth game when Watt and Reynolds were broken. The kiwis gave their all but were unable to break back with the set continuing on serve to go to the Czech pair 6-3.

Watt and Reynolds can feel proud of their performance in which they had their chances particularly in the first set. Watt said earlier this month their goals included making the main draw of the grand slams, the French Open and Wimbledon. Today they achieved the first of those, with their tilt at Wimbledon next month.

Other goals include winning a title in 2026 and improving their ranking further to allow them to get direct entry into the major tournament draws.

Their current ranking has been in the top 90 for most of the year after success last year on the ATP Challenger Tour when they reached nine finals, winning five of them.