Irish number One James McGee has lost to Britain's James Ward in the first qualifying round for the French Open.

The Dublin native and  World number 159 lost the first set 6-1, before winning the second by the same score. 

Ward, who was the number eight seed in the qualifying tournament and is ranked 53 places higher than McGee in the ATP Rankings won the final set 6-0. He will go on to face Sweden's Christian Lindell in the next round.

McGee, reached the third qualifying round last year in Paris and was one win away from the main draw before losing to Italian Andrea Arnaboldi in straight sets.

He went on to make his Grand Slam debut at the US Open last year, before losing in the first round to Kazaksthan's Aleksandr Nedovyesov in four sets.

The French Open gets under way next Monday with Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova defending their titles.