British interest in singles at the French Open ended in the second round with defeat for Katie Boulter against Anastasia Potapova.
Boulter might have feared the worst when her match was moved from its original court six to court 13, where Emma Raducanu, Cameron Norrie and Fran Jones had already lost.
The British number three put up a good fight against 28th seed Potapova, who is one of the most in-form players on the WTA Tour, and won the first set.
But the Russian-turned-Austrian hit back strongly to claim a 5-7 6-4 6-2 victory and set up a third-round clash with defending champion Coco Gauff.
Boulter was in familiar territory taking on the hard, flat hitting of Potapova, with the two women trading hefty groundstrokes from the off.
Both struggled to hold serve in an opening set that featured six successive breaks but it was Boulter who edged it only to fall 5-1 behind in the second set.
She saved three set points before winning three games in a row but Potapova, who has soared from 97 in the rankings to 30 in the last two months, finally held to force a decider, where she was much the steadier player.
Boulter has never been beyond the second round in Paris and she took confidence despite the result, saying: “Today the match was exactly what I wanted it to be.
“The result didn’t go my way, but I felt like the type of tennis I was trying to play was miles better than the first round.
“I think the way that I was aggressive, the way that I struck the ball today, I think was some of the best I have on a clay court.”
