Mohamed Safwat is the first man from Egypt to play in a grand slam tennis tournament’s main draw in 22 years – and he got very little notice that chance would come at the French Open.

Safwat, ranked 183 in the world, got into the field as a “lucky loser”, someone who failed to make it out of the qualifying rounds but is given a berth when another player withdraws.

In this case, Serbia’s Victor Troicki pulled out Sunday because of an injured lower back.

So the 182nd-ranked Safwat made his grand slam debut at age 27 on Court Philippe Chatrier against No.4-seed Grigor Dimitrov.

Not surprisingly, the Bulgarian won 6-1 6-4 7-6(1) to be the first player through in the men’s draw.

Dimitrov said he only found out he’d be playing Safwat about 20 minutes beforehand.

Safwat was cheered off the court in a rousing ovation.

Another lucky loser from qualifying will now face Australias’ Bernard Tomic on Monday after an ongoing elbow injury proved too much for compatriot Nick Kyrgios to overcome.

It’s a persistent problem for the 23-year-old, who’s played just two events since February.

In other matches, France’s Gael Monfils defeated compatriot and wildcard Elliot Benchetriet in four sets 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-1.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur swept aside American Denis Kudla 6-4 6-2 6-2 but Jared Donaldson is through after surviving five sets with Chile’s Nicolas Jarry, winning 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-3 6-4.