Garland first Taiwanese to win French Open singles match in 5 years

Taipei, May 28 (CNA) British-Taiwanese tennis player Joanna Garland became the first player representing Taiwan to clinch a victory in a main singles draw of the French Open since 2020 after she outlasted America's Katie Volynets in Paris.

In a tight match that lasted 2 hours and 18 minutes, the 23-year-old Garland, Taiwan's highest ranked female player in singles at 175th in the world, upset the world No. 65 Volynets 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, on the clay courts in the French capital.

The victory propelled her to the second round of the women's singles where she will face world No. 24 Yulia Putintseva from Kazakhstan in what will likely be an uphill battle.

Volynets seemed poised to take the match when she broke Garland's serve twice to take a 3-0 lead in the final set. But Garland responded with a break of her own to pull within 3-2, and then ran off the last four games to clinch victory.

The last time a Taiwanese player won a singles match in the French Open was in September 2020, when Taiwanese veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) defeated then world No. 143 Barbara Haas to advance to the second round of the women's singles.

Born in the United Kingdom to a British father and Taiwanese mother, Garland moved with her family to Taiwan when she was 10 years old. In 2016 she won the Taiwan national U18 tennis championship.

Garland, who had to win three qualifying round matches just to make the main draw, turned pro in 2019.