Francesca Jones wins first Grand Slam
- Britain's Francesca Jones defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia on Saturday to record her first Grand Slam match win at the French Open in Paris. - BBC described Jones's achievement as an emotional breakthrough following 'the hardest moment' of her career, per tournament coverage on Saturday at Roland-Garros. - Jones beat Haddad Maia on May 24 in Paris; it was her first Grand Slam main-draw victory. (bbc.com)
1/ Francesca Jones, Britain's world No. 138, defeated Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4, 6-3 on May 24 at the French Open in Paris, securing her first-ever Grand Slam main-draw victory. The 26-year-old qualifier fought back from a set point down in the first set on Court 12 at Roland Garros. 2/ Jones called it an "emotional breakthrough" after "the hardest moment" of her career—a reference to her withdrawal from the 2021 Australian Open due to a foot injury that required surgery on three stress fractures. She had lost all five prior main-draw Slam matches, including qualifiers. 3/ Haddad Maia, ranked No. 20 and the 11th seed, struggled with 38 unforced errors on the clay, compared to Jones's 18. Jones converted 5 of 8 break points, winning 70% of her first-serve points in a match lasting 1 hour and 37 minutes. 4/ This was Jones's sixth French Open appearance and her second time reaching the main draw—she qualified by beating McCartney Kessler, Moyuka Uchijima, and Ajla Tomljanovic in the qualifiers. Prior Slams: US Open 2020 (R1 loss), Wimbledon 2021 (R1), AO 2021 (withdrew injured), AO 2024 (Q1), RG 2025 (Q2). 5/ Jones, born in Bromley, England, with a British mother and Polish father, trained partly in Valencia, Spain. She turned pro in 2016 at age 16, reached WTA 125 finals in 2021, but injuries stalled her—peaking at No. 41 in 2021 before dropping outside top 200. Now back on the rise with this win. ) 6/ Next up for Jones: a second-round clash with either No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva or qualifier Irene Burillo Escorihuela on May 26 at Roland Garros. Andreeva leads Burillo 6-4, 7-5 after day-one play. A win would mark Jones's first Slam third-round appearance. 7/ Britain's day-one French Open haul: Jones's win was the lone bright spot amid Emma Raducanu's straight-sets loss to Solana Sierra (6-2, 6-1). Other exits: Sofia Kenin, Barbora Krejcikova, Sloane Stephens. Jones rises to a career-high post-win ranking projection.
