Norwich's Ben Bartram teamed up with his old junior adversary Dahnon Ward to reach the second round of the men’s wheelchair tennis doubles at Paris 2024. 

The 19-year-olds have played against each other for seven years, also combining for the boys' doubles title at the US Open in 2022. 

At Roland Garros, Bartram and Ward triumphed 6-3 3-6 10-5 over Lhaj Boukartacha and Said Himam of Morocco. 

“For me, my first ever tournament final I played against Dahnon so we’ve been playing against each other and around each other since we were like 12,” Bartram said. 

“Throughout our whole careers we’ve known each other and been really good friends. It’s a very proud moment for us both to look back and to think where we are now is unbelievable. 

“To play my first ever match at the Paralympics with him is definitely something that I’ll remember forever and there is no one I would rather play with.” 

The pair will next take on the third seeds Tom Egebrink and Maikel Scheffers of the Netherlands. 

Ward said: “We’re playing the Dutch so hopefully they will put us on a big court. We’ll be pumped for it, just got to go out and give it our all really. 

“I think we were just bouncing off the crowd really in this match. As we got louder, they got louder. It was really good to feel their energy. 

“in the tiebreak, I said ‘we’ve been in this position a couple of time, and it’s gone our way before and lots of times it hasn’t.  

“We just got to go out and give it our all really.’ That’s what our coach was saying as well.” 

The pair came through a champions tiebreak, with Ward also prevailing in a second set tie break in his singles match on Friday. 

For Bartram, the tiebreak was the highlight of a topsy-turvy match. 

He added: “I think me and Dahnon showed great fight toward the end of the match, and I think we just lost a bit of focus and energy.  

“Personally, I wasn’t happy with the way that I played in the second set, and I dwelled on it for a bit too long.  

“I think the way that we played in the tie-break was probably best in the entire match. We played really well and managed to get the job done.”

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