Three-time Paralympic medallist Andy Lapthorne came through a hard-fought opening round battle against Chile’s Diego Perez, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals in Paris.

Rising young star Greg Slade had to fight back from a set down to pull off an epic comeback victory against Ugur Altinel 6-7(6), 7-6(1), 6-1 in a gripping encounter lasting two hours and 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, Lucy Shuker kick-started her singles campaign in Paris by defeating French favourite Charlotte Fairbank 6-4, 7-5.

Lapthorne lights up Court Suzanne-Lenglen

Lapthorne rose to the occasion on one of the biggest courts in tennis to move past Perez in front of a packed-out Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

The 33-year-old’s win now sees him reach the second round of the Paralympics for the third time and now sets up a quarter-final meeting with Ahmet Kaplan.

Today marked only the second meeting between the pair, with the first going the way of Lapthorne at this year’s Australian Open.

With the Brit up a set and a break, he looked to be on the home straight but the Chilean refused to give up without a fight.

The pair tussled for the upper hand but after six consecutive service breaks, it was Lapthorne who had the last say. An inch perfect drop shot set the Briton up with the opportunity to serve out the match, as he closed out victory with a hold to love.

“I’m pretty speechless right now,” Lapthorne said. “To play in front of a crowd like that has taken my breath away a bit. I’m very emotional – you come to Paris and you don’t expect to get much support but to have a whole Court Suzanne-Lenglen come to watch a disability sport is pretty mind boggling.

“It was probably the best experience of my life - I’ve won Grand Slams, I’ve won some big tournaments but that there today was right at the top of the list.

“I managed to grind my way through it and use the crowd and the energy to pull me in the right direction and at the end of the day it’s about winning, and I managed to do that. We move onto the next round, it’s not going to be easy but after that we’re flying.”

Slade shines on Paralympic debut

It was then over to 22-year-old debutant Slade who looked to continue the streak of British wins on the second day of wheelchair tennis action in the French capital.

After a dominant second set tie-break which saw Slade drop just one point, the Brit looked to carry the momentum into the decider where he showcased his best tennis of the day.

The youngster struck a remarkable 60 winners past his opponent across the match, before reeling off five consecutive games in a row to punch his ticket to the next round and set up a clash against third seed Guy Sasson.

“Relieved, I think," Slade said when asked to describe his feelings of clinching a first Paralympic win. "I knew going into the match it was going to be tough. Ugur and I have had a lot of close matches recently.

I felt good and felt prepared and then I got into the match, started well and then got very tight. Obviously, it’s tough with my disability, it can happen and can be tough to play through. But I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m here on a Paralympic stage and I’m up’.

“I’m so happy, I’m so grateful and relieved and the support out there was amazing. I can’t believe I got through it, and I can’t wait for the next one.”

Shuker shakes off French crowd to secure singles victory

The experienced Shuker completed the trio of British singles victories when she cruised to straight sets win over home favourite Charlotte Fairbank 6-4, 7-5.

Having trailed 3-0 in the opening set, the three-time Paralympic medallist had to dig deep to turn things around - eventually winning three games on the bounce to steal the opening set.

As the second set got underway, there was little separating the two as they wrestled to take the advantage. With a tie-break fast approaching, the Brit made a late charge - finding herself with a match point on the Frenchwoman's serve before sealing the victory after an hour and 44 minutes of play.

“I didn’t play my best match, obviously there are some nerves, you’ve got to come back after the loss of doubles yesterday.

“There were a few French people who were cheering for me. It was nice to get the win, there was some really good stuff and then some patchy stuff. I still feel like I’ve been playing some good tennis, just need to string it together a bit more often.”

Over in the doubles, Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward made it two Paralympic debut wins in two days. After winning their opening singles matches yesterday, the British duo joined forces to defeat Lhaj Boukartacha and Said Himam 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 and seal a place in the men's doubles second round.