It was an early alarm call for men’s qualifying top seed Jesper De Jong who was on court at 10am to survive a tight first round test against China’s Sun Fajing in two tiebreak sets.
The Dutchman talked afterwards about the frustration of being one spot out of the main draw during the days leading up to qualifying, and how he accepted the task ahead of him once he stepped on court.
Elsewhere Thailand’s women’s top seed Lanlana Tararudee fell at the first hurdle to Greek Despina Papamichail in three sets on Court 3, while there were wins for former US Open quarterfinalist Lloyd Harris, past Roland-Garros semi-finalist Tamara Zidansek, and Marco Cecchinato, who enjoyed a run to the last four in Paris back in 2018.
Monday’s action came to a dramatic close at around 10.15pm when Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin won a remarkable deciding tiebreak 15-13 against American Kayla Day, saving two match points along the way.