“Dreddy” Brown gets to Round 2 in Roland Garros qualifying

ROLAND GARROS – Dustin Brown is playing his ninth Roland Garros.

And already, with a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over No. 16 seed Sumit Nagal of India Monday, he’s done better than he has in some of those previous efforts.

Here’s what it looked like. He played solid tennis (even though we miss the flying dreads).

Clay not really Dreddy’s preferred surface

In all but two trips to Paris, Brown had lost in the first round – three times in the main draw, and three more in the qualifying.

On Wednesday, the 35-year-old German plays Alexandre Muller, a 23-year-old Frenchman ranked eight spots higher than Brown’s current No. 246.

The difference between the two is that Muller is pretty close to his career high, while Brown has dropped down the charts since his own career best No. 64 back in 2016.

That year, Brown had his best French Open.

He didn’t drop a set in qualifying, outlasted Dudi Sela (then No. 62) in a marathon five-setter in the first round, then lost to Jack Sock in the second round.

In 2019 he lost in the final round of qualifying to Salvatore Caruso of Italy.

Fourth RG for Muller

This is the fourth Roland Garros for Muller, who received a main-draw wild card in his debut in 2017.

In 2018, he reached the final round of qualifying, going down to a kid who turned out to be pretty good – Casper Ruud.

A year ago, he qualified (beating Peter Polansky in a third-set tiebreak in the second round, then Viktor Troicki in the final round). Roberto Carballes Baene beat him in the first round of the main draw.

They’re second up on Court 7 – and Brown will find the conditions significantly slower, with rain expected Wednesday morning.