Auguste Rodin, Military Order and Arrest form part of a 14-strong field declared for the Betfred Derby at Epsom on Saturday.

Much has been written about Auguste Rodin, and while he was well beaten in the 2000 Guineas, Aidan O’Brien – who also runs San Antonio and Adelaide River – retains maximum faith in the Deep Impact colt.

Military Order is bred to be a Derby winner being a full-brother to trainer Charlie Appleby’s 2021 winner Adayar and did little to dispel the impression that he will go close to maintaining family honour when taking the Lingfield Derby Trial.

Arrest will take all the headlines should he prevail, as he is the final Derby mount of Frankie Dettori.

Trained by John and Thady Gosden, the son of Frankel was a Group One runner-up as a juvenile and looked the part on his return in the Chester Vase.

His run in France behind the reopposing Dubai Mile was on heavy ground, while the heavens opened over the Roodee.

He will face very different conditions in the premier Classic, but connections are hopeful he will be at least as good, if not better, for it.

“He’s a very good horse and at Chester it was just about getting him some more experience on an undulating track,” said Barry Mahon, European racing manager for owners Juddmonte.

“He’d been to Sandown, Ffos Las and Saint-Cloud, all pretty straightforward tracks, so Chester was about introducing him to a tight, undulating track which he handled well.

“He then went to Epsom for a gallop and he handled that as well, quickening clear of his work companion, so he’s in good form. He did his last piece at the weekend and went nicely.

“There’s been a lot of talk about the ground, but he won his maiden at Sandown on good to firm, hopefully he can give a good account.

“He’s a fine, big, well-balanced horse so I think he’s better on good ground. Looking at him, that’s what I think.

“France wasn’t ideal, if it was three-quarters through the season rather than last race of the year he probably wouldn’t have run on that ground as it was so bad, but we knew he had the winter off so took a chance.

“He hit the front a furlong out and the ground probably just caught him out and the horse of Charlie Johnston’s got back up and did him on the line.”

Sir Michael Stoute and the Derby need little introduction and 12 months on from the victory of Desert Crown, the Freemason Lodge handler has supplemented Passenger, winner of the Wood Ditton and unlucky in running when dead-heating for third in the Dante.

The winner on the Knavesmire was Andrew Balding’s The Foxes, while immediately behind Military Order at Lingfield was the Ed Walker-trained Waipiro.

Donnacha O’Brien’s Alder was not declared, but there is further Irish representation through John Murphy’s Dante runner-up White Birch and Jessica Harrington’s Sprewell.

Artistic Star is an unbeaten Galileo colt representing Ralph Beckett, who sent out Westover to be third last year, and Roger Varian runs the giant King Of Steel with Dubai Mile’s trainer Charlie Johnston having a second string to his bow in the shape of Dear My Friend.

Marco Botti’s Yorkshire Cup hero Giavellotto will seek further staying riches later this summer with the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup highlighted as his next target.

The four-year-old rose rapidly through the handicap ranks to earn a crack at the St Leger last season and acquitted himself with real credit in that staying Classic to pass the post in fourth, promoted to third following interference.

Although disappointing in the Dubai Gold Cup in his first outing of the year, he thrived when stepping onto the Knavesmire for the Yorkshire Cup, highlighting himself as a top-quality operator to reverse Doncaster form with Eldar Eldarov.

Despite that race often serving as a trial for the Gold Cup, Giavellotto does not hold an entry for the Royal Ascot feature and although supplementing did briefly come under discussion, connections have decided to stick with their original plan to swerve the summer showpiece.

The Mastercraftsman colt will now be primed for action on the Sussex Downs on August 1 where he will try to land his first Group One prize.

“He’s come out of the race at York well and we’re pleased with him, he seems in good form,” said Botti.

“We had a good catch up with the owners and they decided they don’t want to go for the Gold Cup at Ascot and we will stick to the original plan.

“Even before he won at York, I felt the extra few furlongs of the Gold Cup wasn’t going to help him run his best race and we always felt it wasn’t going to be the race we were aiming for.

“We’re going to skip it and aim at the Goodwood Cup on August 1.”

Giavellotto holds an entry in the Comer Group International Irish St Leger at the Curragh on September 10 and that could prove a further port of call with Botti plotting a potential path to the Melbourne Cup at Flemington in November.

He continued: “If he does well at Goodwood then we have entered him in the Irish St Leger on September 10 and then we if we go any further, we haven’t ruled out the Melbourne Cup.

“It is not a firm plan, but we will consider it and make a decision as we go along.

“He definitely stays the two miles. I felt the one-mile-six at York was always the race we wanted to go for as I felt the track and trip was tailor-made for him and I’m glad he showed what he was capable of.

“He was probably unlucky in the St Leger. He didn’t have a clear run and in Dubai it just didn’t happen for him, but he showed that in the right conditions, on the right track he is quite a nice stayer.”

Monty Williams will be named the next coach of the Detroit Pistons and is expected to sign a six-year, $78.5 million contract, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Pistons will give Williams the largest coaching deal in NBA history to replace Dwane Casey, who stepped down as Detroit’s coach in April to move into a front-office role.

The Athletic reported that there are team options for the seventh and eighth year, and incentives that could increase the deal to $100 million.

Williams was fired by the Phoenix Suns on May 13 after four seasons with the team, including a trip to the 2021 NBA Finals. He won 63 percent of his games with the Suns and was named the NBA Coach of the Year in May 2022 after leading Phoenix to a franchise-record 64 wins.

The Suns, however, had huge losses in elimination games in the playoffs in consecutive seasons and that ultimately led to Williams’ firing.

Casey went 121-263 in five seasons with Detroit and the team made the playoffs only once under his guidance.

The Pistons finished an NBA-worst 17-65 in 2022-23 for their seventh straight losing season. They haven’t won a playoff round since 2007-08.

Cameron Norrie played the villain’s role again by taking out his second French opponent, this time Lucas Pouille, to reach the third round at Roland Garros.

After his five-set victory over Benoit Paire, Norrie had a much more comfortable time in a 6-1 6-3 6-3 win over Pouille to set up a clash with young Italian Lorenzo Musetti.

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz both made it through to the last 32 without any real alarms but Caroline Garcia, the biggest home hope, is out.

Nick Kyrgios will wake up happy after Thanasi Kokkinakis’ five-set victory over Stan Wawrinka.

Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova have dominated women’s doubles recently and were looking to win a fifth straight grand slam title. So a first-round loss to Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and Japan’s Eri Hozumi was a shock and a half.

Men: Roberto Bautista Agut (19), Sebastian Korda (24)

Women: Caroline Garcia (5), Liudmila Samsonova (15), Jelena Ostapenko (17), Zheng Qinwen (19)

Defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek continues her campaign for a third title in Paris against American Claire Liu.

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina meets teenage Czech Linda Noskova while Coco Gauff takes on Austria’s Julia Grabher.

In the men’s draw, the withdrawal of Gael Monfils means Alexander Zverev plays in the night session against Alex Molcan, with fourth seed Casper Ruud opening proceedings against Giulio Zeppieri.

Novak Djokovic admitted he is fuelled by drama as the fall-out continued from his controversial message about Kosovo.

The French sports minister weighed into the debate on Wednesday over Djokovic’s decision to write “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” on the camera after his first-round victory at Roland Garros.

Speaking to TV station France 2, Amelie Oudea-Castera said the message amid violence in the north of the country, which is not recognised as independent by Serbia, was not appropriate and she warned Djokovic not to repeat the action.

He told Serbian media he would do it again but, after beating Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 7-6 (2) 6-0 6-3 in the second round, he opted just for a signature and smiley face.

At his post-match press conference, Djokovic said: “I would say it again, but I don’t need to because you have my quotes if you want to reflect on that.

“Of course I’m aware that a lot of people would disagree, but it is what it is. It’s something that I stand for. So that’s all. Drama-free grand slam, I don’t think it can happen for me. I guess that drives me, as well.”

He declined to respond to Oudea-Castera’s comments and did not confirm whether tournament director Amelie Mauresmo had discussed the matter with him, saying: “I have no more comment on that. I said what I needed to say.”

He is not expected to face any sanction from the tournament because players are not prohibited from making political statements.

Things were not straightforward on the court during an 87-minute first set when, unsettled by breezy conditions and an in-form opponent, Djokovic was pushed hard.

He double-faulted serving for the set and was pushed to a tie-break but, having overcome that hurdle, the third seed was almost flawless.

A lost set, meanwhile, was not enough to take the smile off Carlos Alcaraz’s face as he defeated Taro Daniel to move through to the third round of the French Open.

Taking on the Japanese player on a windy Philippe Chatrier, world number one Alcaraz won the first set easily only for his opponent to fight back at the start of the second.

It proved only a temporary blip, though, as the young Spaniard dominated the final two sets in a 6-1 3-6 6-1 6-2 triumph.

“I’m really happy with the level that I played today,” said Alcaraz. “I overcame the problems in the match because of the wind and it has been a really complete match from my side, and I’m really happy with that.”

Alcaraz’s positive attitude and sunny disposition has made him not just popular with his rivals but also made some of them rethink their own approach, with Stefanos Tsitsipas thanking the Spaniard during a practice session.

“I’m winning all the time because I am smiling,” said Alcaraz, who next faces Denis Shapovalov. “And I always said that smiling for me is the key of everything.

“I enjoy being in this kind of stadium, these kind of tournaments, cities. That’s the most important thing for me to enjoy, and that’s why I smile all the time.”

Tsitsipas joined Alcaraz in the third round with a 6-3 7-6 (4) 6-2 victory over Roberto Carballes Baena but former champion Stan Wawrinka lost out in the match of the day, going down in five sets to Thanasi Kokkinakis.

The Australian would have felt that was justice after his epic defeat by Andy Murray at his home grand slam in January.

“It definitely feels better when you come out on the winning end of those,” said Kokkinakis.

“I had a heart-breaker against Andy earlier in the year and not many moral victories. It was a tough one to take. You can’t count these guys out no matter how old they are. They get better and better, and you can see why they are multiple grand slam champions.

“Stan is a legend. Still is, obviously, but he was a legend out on court today. He was very nice, very respectful. Hats off to him. The crowd was going nuts for him, but it’s a fun atmosphere. I love playing against that, so it was awesome.”

Meanwhile, sixth seed Holger Rune was given free passage through to the third round after Gael Monfils called a press conference late on Wednesday evening to announce he was pulling out of their clash scheduled for the night session on Thursday because of a wrist injury.

The 36-year-old played the match of the tournament so far on Tuesday night, fighting off cramp to defeat Sebastian Baez in five sets, and he said: “I’m not really sure what I feel, but it’s more than being disappointed. How many Roland Garroses will I play?”

Novak Djokovic kept his focus on the court amid his latest controversy as he saw off Marton Fucsovics in the second round of the French Open.

The French sports minister weighed into the continued fall-out over Djokovic’s decision to write “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” on the camera after his first-round victory at Roland Garros.

Speaking to TV station France 2, Amelie Oudea-Castera said the message amid violence in the north of the country, which is not recognised as independent by Serbia, was not appropriate and she warned Djokovic not to repeat the action.

He told Serbian media he would do it again but, after the 7-6 (2) 6-0 6-3 victory over Fucsovics, he opted just for a signature and smiley face.

Things were not straightforward on the court during an 87-minute first set when, unsettled by breezy conditions and an in-form opponent, Djokovic was pushed hard.

He double-faulted serving for the set and was pushed to a tie-break but, having overcome that hurdle, the third seed was almost flawless.

A lost set was not enough to take the smile off Carlos Alcaraz’s face as he defeated Taro Daniel to move through to the third round of the French Open.

Taking on the Japanese player on a breezy Philippe Chatrier, world number one Alcaraz won the first set easily only for his opponent to fight back at the start of the second.

It proved only a temporary blip, though, as the young Spaniard dominated the final two sets in a 6-1 3-6 6-1 6-2 triumph.

“I’m really happy with the level that I played today,” said Alcaraz. “I overcame the problems in the match because of the wind and it has been a really complete match from my side, and I’m really happy with that.”

Alcaraz’s positive attitude and sunny disposition has made him not just popular with his rivals but also made some of them rethink their own approach, with Stefanos Tsitsipas thanking the Spaniard during a practice session.

“I’m winning all the time because I am smiling,” said Alcaraz, who next faces Denis Shapovalov. “And I always said that smiling for me is the key of everything.

“I enjoy being in this kind of stadium, these kind of tournaments, cities. That’s the most important thing for me to enjoy, and that’s why I smile all the time.”

Tsitsipas joined Alcaraz in the third round with a 6-3 7-6 (4) 6-2 victory over Roberto Carballes Baena but former champion Stan Wawrinka lost out in the match of the day, going down in five sets to Thanasi Kokkinakis.

The Australian would have felt that was justice after his epic defeat by Andy Murray at his home grand slam in January.

“It definitely feels better when you come out on the winning end of those,” said Kokkinakis.

“I had a heart-breaker against Andy earlier in the year and not many moral victories. It was a tough one to take. You can’t count these guys out no matter how old they are. They get better and better, and you can see why they are multiple grand slam champions.

“Stan is a legend. Still is, obviously, but he was a legend out on court today. He was very nice, very respectful. Hats off to him. The crowd was going nuts for him, but it’s a fun atmosphere. I love playing against that, so it was awesome.”

Meanwhile, sixth seed Holger Rune was given free passage through to the third round after Gael Monfils called a press conference late on Wednesday evening to announce he was pulling out of their clash scheduled for the night session on Thursday because of a wrist injury.

A pair of eliminated playoff teams announced front-office moves Wednesday, as the Seattle Kraken signed general manager Ron Francis to an extension and the Toronto Maple Leafs hired Brad Treliving as their next GM.

Francis received a three-year extension through the 2026-2027 season, while Treliving joined Toronto after spending the previous nine seasons as GM of the Calgary Flames.

Francis was named the first GM in Kraken history in July 2019 and the team posted a 27-49-6 record in its inaugural NHL season in 2021-22. Seattle then went 46-28-8 this season to reach the playoffs.

The Kraken upset the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the postseason before losing in seven games to the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference semifinals.

"Ron has done remarkable work over the last four years and deserves this recognition," Kraken co-owner Samantha Holloway said.

"He has built a tremendous team, putting Seattle hockey on the map. He is building for long term success and is dedicated to our city, our fans, and our community."

Treliving, meanwhile, left the Flames last month after they missed the playoffs with a 38-27-17 record.

That came after Calgary had 111 points last season – the second-most in franchise history – before being eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the West semis.

The Flames made the playoffs five times in Treliving’s nine seasons as GM.

Treliving takes over for Kyle Dubas, who was fired less than two weeks ago after Toronto won a playoff series for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign.

The Maple Leafs were ousted by the eventual Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers in five games in the semis, extending the Original Six franchise’s Stanley Cup drought to 56 years.

"I'm very pleased to welcome Brad into the Maple Leafs organization," Maple Leafs president and alternate governor Brendan Shanahan said.

"Brad brings a wealth of knowledge from his years of experience as a general manager and hockey executive in Calgary, Arizona and beyond.

“He has earned tremendous respect amongst his peers throughout his years in the NHL and has built excellent relationships at all levels within the game.

“We are confident that Brad's leadership and strategic vision will elevate the Maple Leafs in our continued pursuit of a championship."

Attention is ramping up again on the French Open’s scheduling, with the night session so far exclusively featuring men’s matches.

Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo had to apologise last year after saying men’s matches had more appeal as a justification for only one women’s match featuring in the 10 prime-time sessions across the fortnight.

The French Open is unique among the grand slams in having only one match in its late slot and, in the first five days, that will be a men’s contest every time.

With fifth seed Caroline Garcia bowing out on Wednesday, the chances of a women’s match making the cut have reduced further, and former finalist Sloane Stephens hit out after her 6-2 6-1 win over Varvara Gracheva.

“I’m on the player council and we’ve had a lot of conversations about this and we’ve had a lot of conversations about equality,” said the American. “Four out of four men’s matches. That’s not what we talk about. That’s not what we’re about.”

Garcia’s 4-6 6-3 7-5 loss to Russian Anna Blinkova was a major blow to the home country.

Blinkova, ranked 56, had never beaten a top-five player before but battled back from a set down to triumph, finally taking her ninth match point.

Garcia was left hugely frustrated by her failure to seize the initiative, saying: “Sometimes when I’m on the court, I don’t dare go to the net. I don’t dare pummel through my balls. And the greatest regrets I have is that I don’t up my game when I should.

“My backhand is bad. Everything is bad. And this is what is tough to digest right now.”

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka was not at her best in the opening set against qualifier Iryna Shymanovich but finished strongly to win 7-5 6-2.

In her press conference, the Belarusian refused to answer questions about her previous support for president Alexander Lukashenko in a heated exchange with a Ukrainian journalist.

Former world number three Elina Svitolina continued to impress in her comeback grand slam, taking inspiration from husband Gael Monfils as she saw off Australian Storm Hunter 3-6 6-3 6-1.

Less than 11 hours after completing an emotional five-set win over Sebastian Baez, Monfils was back at Roland Garros cheering on Svitolina.

“I watched him, but not live, I was screaming in my room,” said the Ukrainian. “It was an unbelievable match. I don’t know what he is doing here now, I think he should be resting, but I’m really thankful for him coming to support me, especially in this tough match.”

Svitolina is playing her first slam in more than a year following the birth of baby Skai last October.

The new mother and father are juggling the day job with childcare, and Svitolina said: “It’s the first tournament for us where we are both playing at the same tournament, and Skai is here with us in Paris as well. It’s really, really special.

“So far everything is going well and we really enjoy our time off the court together and on the court we try to be focused and play as good as we can.”

Svitolina is also having to put to one side thoughts of the troubles in her homeland and is using the situation to inspire her on court.

She said: “When I step on the court, I just try to think about the fighting spirit that all of us Ukrainians have and how Ukrainians are fighting for their values, for their freedom in Ukraine. And me, I’m fighting here on my own frontline.

“I cannot be sad. I cannot be distracted in some ways. I’m just going to lose. I have a flag next to my name so I’m fighting for my country, and I’m going to do that each time I step on the court.”

Third seed Jessica Pegula had an untaxing afternoon, taking the first set 6-2 against Camila Giorgi before the Italian pulled out.

Ninth seed Daria Kasatkina produced the shot of the tournament so far, a fizzing tweener winner, in a 6-3 6-4 victory over former finalist Marketa Vondrousova, while 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko lost out 6-3 1-6 6-2 to American Peyton Stearns.

Meanwhile, Leylah Fernandez, the young Canadian beaten in the US Open final by Emma Raducanu in 2021, is close to dropping out of the top 100 after losing to her former junior rival Clara Tauson.

Cameron Norrie called for video replays to be used in tennis after another umpiring controversy in his second-round victory over Lucas Pouille at the French Open.

The British number one was fuming at being given a hindrance penalty for shouting out during his five-set win over Benoit Paire on Monday, with Norrie insisting he had merely grunted.

He came out on the right side of things back on Suzanne Lenglen against another Frenchman, with umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore failing to spot a double bounce at a key moment in the third set of Norrie’s 6-1 6-3 6-3 victory.

TV replays showed Pouille, who lost three games in a row to trail 5-1 after the incident, was right to complain, and both men believe umpires should have the benefit of reviewing their decision at such moments.

“I think that would be great,” said Norrie. “There’s been so many different situations over my career where there’s been things happening, and I think we definitely can use it to our advantage. We have the technology to do it. I don’t know why we’re not doing it in all aspects.

“We all make mistakes. The umpires make mistakes. It was a tough call in the moment. From the replay, for me, it looks like she got it wrong.”

Players often know whether they have reached the ball or not but Norrie insisted he did not in the moment and Pouille had no complaints with his opponent.

“You have no obligation,” said the Frenchman. “You do whatever you want. When you run to the ball and you hit it, sometimes you don’t know if it bounced twice or not. I was pretty sure it did.

“I think today we have so many options to check if it bounced twice or not. It’s easy with the video.”

The incident led to more booing for Norrie at the time and at the end of the match, but the 14th seed was relieved to have kept the crowd much quieter than in his rollercoaster clash with Paire.

Norrie may feel tempted to take to the stage in the off-season given the practice he has now had at being a pantomime villain.

Booed onto court, the partisan home crowd light-heartedly jeered his shots during the warm-up while cheering those of Pouille.

“It’s a great atmosphere,” said Norrie. “It’s the matches you want to be playing. It’s really tough with the crowd chanting and definitely getting behind and changing the momentum of the match. They’re a tough crowd but I enjoy it.

“Obviously I’d prefer with it being on my side but it’s going to happen that way. It just so happened that I played two guys from France back-to-back. It was definitely a bit more low stress today and I was able to keep them pretty hushed for the majority of the match.

“I was really pleased with my performance and there was a lot of good changes that I made in my level today, so I was really happy with it.”

Ranked down at 675 after injury and problems with depression and alcohol, Pouille was bidding to make the last 32 at a slam for the first time since Wimbledon in 2019.

Norrie wore strapping under his left knee but came out looking much sharper than he had against Paire and imposed his game straight away, allowing his nervous opponent just six points in the first five games.

There were two periods where Pouille threatened to make a match of it – when he won three games in a row from 0-2 in the second set and after he broke Norrie when he served for the match.

Pouille created two break points to get back on serve in the third set but Norrie fought off the danger and will try to get past talented young Italian Lorenzo Musetti to reach the fourth round here for the first time.

A lost set was not enough to take the smile off Carlos Alcaraz’s face as he defeated Taro Daniel to move through to the third round of the French Open.

Taking on the Japanese player on a breezy Philippe Chatrier, world number one Alcaraz won the first set easily only for his opponent to fight back at the start of the second.

It proved only a temporary blip, though, as the young Spaniard dominated the final two sets in a 6-1 3-6 6-1 6-2 triumph.

“I’m really happy with the level that I played today,” said Alcaraz. “I overcame the problems in the match because of the wind and it has been a really complete match from my side, and I’m really happy with that.”

Alcaraz’s positive attitude and sunny disposition has made him not just popular with his rivals but also made some of them rethink their own approach, with Stefanos Tsitsipas thanking the Spaniard during a practice session.

“I’m winning all the time because I am smiling,” said Alcaraz, who next faces Denis Shapovalov. “And I always said that smiling for me is the key of everything.

“I enjoy being in this kind of stadium, these kind of tournaments, cities. That’s the most important thing for me to enjoy, and that’s why I smile all the time.”

Tsitsipas joined Alcaraz in the third round with a 6-3 7-6 (4) 6-2 victory over Roberto Carballes Baena but former champion Stan Wawrinka lost out in the match of the day, going down in five sets to Thanasi Kokkinakis.

The Australian would have felt that was justice after his epic defeat by Andy Murray at his home grand slam in January.

“It definitely feels better when you come out on the winning end of those,” said Kokkinakis.

“I had a heart-breaker against Andy earlier in the year and not many moral victories. It was a tough one to take. You can’t count these guys out no matter how old they are. They get better and better, and you can see why they are multiple grand slam champions.

“Stan is a legend. Still is, obviously, but he was a legend out on court today. He was very nice, very respectful. Hats off to him. The crowd was going nuts for him, but it’s a fun atmosphere. I love playing against that, so it was awesome.”

London Irish have been given a one-week extension in their battle for survival with the Rugby Football Union setting a final deadline of June 6 to prove they have a future.

Irish will be suspended from the Gallagher Premiership unless a takeover has been completed or they can demonstrate they have the funding needed to operate for the entirety of the 2023-24 season.

The May payroll for all staff and players must also be paid in full after it was confirmed that only 50 per cent has been received so far.

The RFU said it had granted the extension until 4pm next Tuesday at the request of Irish employees.

“It’s deeply frustrating for all the staff, players and fans that there have been months of multiple missed deadlines,” RFU Club Financial Viability Working Group chair Paula Carter said.

“We are extremely disappointed that the club has so far only funded 50 per cent of the staff and player wages. However, we have to respect the wishes of those most affected.

“The 4pm deadline on June 6 is final and we have added the stipulation that the club must also fulfil its contractual obligations to its employees by paying the May salaries in full.”

Cameron Norrie reached the third round of the French Open for the third year in a row with a comfortable win over home hope Lucas Pouille.

Ranked down at 675 after injury and personal problems, Pouille was bidding to make the last 32 at a slam for the first time since Wimbledon in 2019, but Norrie was too strong in a 6-1 6-3 6-3 victory.

The 14th seed wore strapping under his left knee and will no doubt be relieved to have avoided the drama of his raucous five-set duel with another Frenchman, Benoit Paire, in the first round.

The Suzanne Lenglen crowd were not as much of a factor this time, although there was another moment of umpiring controversy, this time in Norrie’s favour, in the third set.

Pouille was convinced Norrie, who was bizarrely penalised for a hindrance shout against Paire, had not got to a ball before it bounced twice but the British player did not stop play and umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore sided with him.

Pouille complained – and was shown to be correct by TV replays – amid booing from the crowd, and the French player lost four games in a row to move to the brink of defeat.

He roused himself for a late stand, breaking Norrie when he served for the match at 5-1 and having two opportunities to get back on serve, but the British number one took his second match point before a final round of booing from the crowd.

Norrie said: “All credit to Lucas, it’s great to see Lucas back and enjoying his tennis. It was a tough battle, tough to get over the line. Thank you to everyone, great atmosphere. Sorry to take another Frenchman out but hopefully you can support me in the next one.”

Norrie may feel tempted to take to the stage in the off-season given the practice he has now had at being a pantomime villain.

Booed onto court, the partisan home crowd light-heartedly jeered his shots during the warm-up while cheering those of Pouille.

The support had played a big part in inspiring Paire and Norrie appeared determined not to let the same thing happen, imposing his game straight away and looking significantly sharper than he had on Monday.

Pouille, who looked very nervous, won only six points in the first five games and, although he saved a set point to avoid the dreaded bagel, Norrie wrapped up the set in less than half an hour.

Pouille briefly became a top-10 player back in 2018 before reaching the Australian Open semi-finals the following year.

Elbow issues triggered a downward spiral that led to depression and a problem with alcohol, and he took time out of the game last year before returning at the start of this season.

A run through qualifying made him the toast of Roland Garros and he led fans in a rendition of the Marseillaise after winning his first-round match.

The 29-year-old swiftly found himself 2-0 down in the second set as well but raised home hopes by winning three games in a row and applying some real pressure to Norrie.

The British number one did well to nip Pouille’s comeback in the bud before things got complicated, and can look forward to trying to make the last 16 here for the first time.