Australians Marinko Matosevic and Greg Jones are a step closer to earning a spot in the French Open main draw after winning their opening qualifying matches.
Matosevic, the world number 89 who just missed out on direct entry to the clay-court major, thumped Frenchman Mathieu Rodrigues 6-1, 6-1.
Jones also advanced comfortably, downing Czech Jan Hernych 6-1, 6-4.
Matosevic will play Marc Gicquel in the second round of qualifying, while Jones also takes on a local, Kenny De Schepper.
But the other two Australian men in the qualifying competition crashed out at the first hurdle.
Twenty-year-old James Duckworth - who took number nine seed Janko Tipsarevic to four tight sets in the second second round of the Australian Open in January - was beaten 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) by German Daniel Brands.
Benjamin Mitchell lost a tight three-setter at Roland Garros to France's Albano Olivetti 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The French Open women's qualifying event begins on Wednesday, with three Australians in action - Sacha Jones, Isabella Holland and Olivia Rogowska.
Meanwhile, Bernard Tomic has advanced to the second round of the Open de Nice tournament in the south of France.
The fifth-seeded Australian beat Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-3 to record a comfortable straight sets victory.
Tomic will play Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in the next round.
Fellow Aussie Matthew Ebden went down 6-3, 6-3 to Russia's Nikolai Davydenko.
ABC/AAP
Tags: sport, tennis, france First posted May 23, 2012 11:23:56
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