India’s top-ranked junior recovered from 4-5 down in the first set to defeat Germany’s Vincent Reisach 7-6(4), 6-4 on his Roland-Garros debut on Sunday.
Arnav Paparkar, ranked 31st in the ITF junior standings, was in danger of losing the opening set when Reisach served for it at 5-4. However, he refused to let it go, breaking back to make it 5-5 before taking the tiebreak 7-4 to pocket the set.
Paparkar was the steadier player in the second set, broke at the right moment, and closed it out 6-4 to complete a straight-sets win on his Roland-Garros debut.
He will next face 15th seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Chinese Taipei, the Junior World No. 17. The Taiwanese player will be a tough opponent for Paparkar at this level, but the Indian will enter the match with the confidence of having handled pressure well on his debut.
Paparkar holds an ATP ranking of 1629 alongside his ITF junior ranking of 31, reflecting active involvement on the senior circuit as well.