Watson, Fleming and Marray out of the doubles, Inglot through

By Philip James

It was a mixed day for the British doubles teams at Roland Garros today as Colin Fleming and Jonny Marray were knocked out but Dominic Inglot won through.

Heather Watson also lost her first found women’s doubles match which end British interest in the draw after Laura Robson withdrew due to back trouble.

Jamie Murray joins Inglot in round two of the men’s doubles after he and John Peers won beat the 15th seeds yesterday.

Dominic Inglot/Treat Huey def Tobias Kamke/Florian Mayer 7-6(5), 6-4

Dominic Inglot and his regular partner, Filipino Treat Huey, continued their good form to reach round two of the French open.

The pair, who reached the final of the ATP250 Power Horse Cup in Düsseldorf last week, beat  the German pairing of Tobias Kamke and Florian Mayer 7-6(5), 6-4.

It was a tricky first round draw for the Inglot, with Mayer ranked 30th in the world in singles and Kamke 72nd.

But Huey and Inglot, ranked 25th and 37th respectively in doubles, were able to come through in in straight sets after edging the first set tie-break.

They then took the only the break of the second set to win the match in an hour and 21 minutes.

Inglot is has been loitering around the top 40 in the world since October but is now up to a career high and a good run this fortnight could propel him into the truly elite doubles players.

Feliciano Lopez/Andre Sa def Colin Fleming/Jonny Marray(10) 7-6(4), 6-7(3),7-5

It was not such good news for Britain’s top two men’s doubles players, Fleming and Marray, who lost a rain-interrupted battle, lasting almost two and a half hours against Feliciano Lopez/Andre Sa.

The Brits, who were tenth seeds, lost in three tight sets, the first two of which were decided by tie-breakers which the teams shared one apiece.

Twice in the first set the Brits broke back as their opponents served for the set, though they lost the ensuing breaker.

The tenth seeds then broke again to stay in the match in the second and won the ensuing tie-break, despite another rain delay at 3-3.

They could not repeat the feat a fourth time however and lost the deciding set to a single break and with it the match 7-6(4), 6-7(3),7-5.

Though they lost to two quality opponents, Lopez a top 40 singles player while Sa is ranked 75th in doubles and has been as high as 17th, it is a match the Brits would have expected to win.

Marray and Fleming, ranked 28th and 18th respectively, would have been looking for a good run on the red clay of Roland Garros.

Marray especially needs to collect some points to stay in the top 20 as his ranking is so heavily based on the 2000 points he has from winning Wimbledon last year.

Oksana Kalashnikova/Alicja Rosolska def Heather Watson/Irina Buryachok 3-6, 6-4, 7-5

Heather Watson’s return from injury continued today as she suffered a loss in the first round of the ladies doubles.

Watson and Irina Buryachok lost to Oksana Kalashnikova and Alicja Rosolska in a tight match 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

She and Marray will hope to overcome today’s disappointment when they team up in the mixed doubles though with the schedule in disarray due to rain, it may be a few days until they get their turn.

Jamie Marray and his Australian partner, John Peers, play their second round match against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah tomorrow.

Marray and Peers impressively defeated the 15th seeds in round one and now face the Colombian pair who knocked out fellow Brit Ken Skupski and Xavier Malisse in their first match.