Kevin Anderson falls at the first hurdle at Roland Garros

Former South African No 1 Kevin Anderson found himself dumped out of the French Open in the first round by Korean youngster Kwon Soon-woo in Paris on Tuesday.

Anderson looked out of sorts in the opening exchanges, relinquishing the first two sets to his Korean opponent, with Kwon looking like he had the bit between his teeth very early on. He would come back a completely rejuvenated figure in the third set, however, as he started to look more like his usual self, with his serve displaying exactly that, to those most familiar with his game.

Anderson looked like he was hitting stride

After an impressive comeback-threatening third set clincher, completing that comeback would ultimately prove just a bridge too far for the veteran. Anderson would eventually succumb to a defeat as the fourth set concluded, with the Kwon proving too strong for him on the night.

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Anderson will bemoan a slow start to the second set and after just 42 minutes the South African found himself on the backfoot, with an uphill battle on his hands at two sets down.

Encouraging signs for Anderson regardless

He could perhaps be able to take solace from the encouraging signs he exhibited in the third round as motivation for future tournaments, however. Anderson was able to dispatch a few aces on his way to claiming a 6-2 set victory after just under 40 minutes. That would prove to be the last of his resistance, however, as Kwon came back to consolidate on what had been an impressive performance before that.

More South African involvement

South African tennis lovers can look forward to being represented in the doubles as Lloyd Harris and Raven Klaasen take to the court with their respective partners Israeli Jonathan Erlich and Japan’s Ben Mclachlan take on the combinations of Argentine duo Federico Coria and Diego Schwartzman as well as Mathias Bourgue and Lucas Pouille from France, respectively

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Harris will then return to singles action on Thursday with a second round match-up with Cameron Norrie of Britain.