GB’s Fearnley reaches second round at Geneva Open

Jacob Fearnley, the second-ranked British player, defeated Dusan Lajovic to advance to the second round of the Geneva Open.

The 23-year-old became the first British player to win a tournament match when they defeated Serbian wildcard Lajovic 6-4, 6-1.

Next up is Alexei Popyrin from Australia.

After submitting his first professional match on clay in Barcelona earlier that month, Fearnley moved up to a career-high 54th place in the world to reach the third round of the Madrid Open.

At the beginning of 2024, Fearnley was ranked outside the top 600, but she won four ATP Challenger titles to stay there until September.

Since winning his first match last month, he has won five of his eight matches on clay, which Roland Garros used for the French Open.

In each of the first four games, Fearnley and former top-25 player Lajovic exchanged breaks of serve.

But he oversaw the second set by leading the charge with a 5-4 lead before dominating the third.

Following Lajovic’s initial serve hold, Fearnley won six games in a row to claim the victory in 72 minutes.