Andy Murray may be making his last minute preparations for an assault on the French Open, but several of his British compatriots have already been heavily involved in the pre-tournament qualifiers. Kyle Edmund and Jo Konta have encouragingly made it through to the final qualifying round in France. Sadly, there has also been disappointment for the likes of Brydan Klein, Naomi Broady and Britain's Davis Cup hero, James Ward in the second round of qualifying.
Confident Edmund
Edmund battled his way through three rounds of qualifying at the Australian Open and is seeking to emulate that feat in France.
The 20-year-old beat the wily Austrian Gerald Melzer in round one and followed that up with perhaps an even better scalp in Victor Hanescu in the second round. The Romanian has been a former quarter-finalist in the past, but had few answers against the confident Edmund in a 6-1 6-2 defeat.
Konta also through
Konta is Britain's number two currently behind Heather Watson. She followed up her opening victory against Jovana Jaksic with a solid 7-6 6-3 success in round two over the Russian Elizaveta Kulichkova.
Bad news elsewhere
There was not such good news for Klein, Broady nor Ward in their second round matches. Klein, a former Aussie who switched to Britain two years ago, lost 6-3 6-1 to Facundo Arguello of Argentina.
Broady was even more comprehensively beaten 6-1 6-1 by Anastasia Rodionova.
Ward was a set to the good against the Swede Christian Lindell, but crucially lost the second set tie-break before succumbing in three sets.
Murray in tough half of draw
Britain's number one men's singles player, Murray, is due to play one of the qualifiers in his first round (proper) match at Roland Garros.
He will be seeded third for the second Grand Slam event of the year, behind the dominant forces of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. The draw has not been particularly kind to the Scot, with both Rafael Nadal and the Serbian favourite Djokovic lurking in his half.
Bedene also in first round
Aljaz Bedene is now Britain's number two men's player and is ranked high enough at 77 to also warrant entry into the first round.
The Slovenian-born 25-year-old represented his country of birth up until this year, but was granted UK citizenship in March and is now eligible to play for Britain. The draw has paired him with the Austrian Dominic Thiem. It promises to be a tough match for Bedene, as Thiem beat the American John Isner on his way to the final of this week's Nice Open.
Watson faces French opponent
In the women's tournament, Britain are guaranteed at least one player in the opening round. Watson will hope to put her indifferent recent form behind her when she takes on Mathilde Johansson, a Swedish-born player who competes for France. With home support behind her, the 30-year-old could prove to be a tricky opening opponent for Watson, despite being well behind the Brit on the current world rankings.
The tournament begins on Sunday, after the qualifying rounds have been completed.
