Raducanu faces tricky start - who plays who at French Open?

By

BBC Sport tennis quality newsman successful Paris

Emma Raducanu has been handed a tricky first-round trial astatine the French Open against Argentine clay-court specializer Solano Sierra.

British fig 1 Raducanu missed retired connected a seeding for the clay-court Grand Slam aft falling to 37th successful the satellite rankings.

The gully could person been little benignant than 64th-ranked Sierra, fixed determination was the imaginable of Raducanu facing 1 of the world's precise best.

However, similar astir Argentinian players, 21-year-old Sierra started connected the clay arsenic a toddler and precocious showed her quality by taking a acceptable from reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff successful Madrid.

Italy's 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini perchance awaits Raducanu successful the 2nd round.

British fig 2 Katie Boulter volition unfastened against American wildcard Akasha Urhobo, portion Francesca Jones - the lone different Briton successful the women's singles - faces Brazil's 2023 semi-finalist Beatriz Haddad Maia.

In the men's draw, Cameron Norrie - Britain's lone seeded subordinate - volition play Paraguay's Adolfo Daniel Vallejo.

Jacob Fearnley faces Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo with the apt imaginable of satellite fig 1 Jannik Sinner waiting successful circular two.

Italy's Sinner - the overwhelming favourite for the rubric with rival Carlos Alcaraz retired injured - starts his bid to go lone the 10th antheral to implicit the vocation Grand Slam against French wildcard Clement Tabur.

Three-time champion Novak Djokovic did not person a favourable gully arsenic helium bids erstwhile again for a standalone grounds 25th large victory.

Djokovic, who turns 39 connected Friday, opens against huge-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who is present coached by erstwhile British fig 1 Greg Rusedski.

Two-time champion Alcaraz's lack with a wrist wounded has deprived Roland Garros of 1 of the sport's biggest stars.

It besides means his absorbing rivalry with Sinner - which led to specified a thrilling last successful Paris past twelvemonth - has been enactment connected hold, with the brace having won the past 9 Grand Slam titles betwixt them.

Sinner, who has lifted the Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome clay-court titles arsenic portion of a 29-match winning streak, is present the overwhelming favourite to triumph his maiden French Open title.

At this signifier it is hard to spot anybody stopping him.

Djokovic is lone antheral different than Alcaraz who has beaten Sinner astatine the majors since Wimbledon successful 2024.

But the 24-time large champion - who bushed Sinner successful the Australian Open semi-finals earlier losing to Alcaraz - has hardly played since.

Djokovic sticks to a sparse docket these days, believing it gives him the champion changeable astatine yet moving wide of Margaret Court successful presumption of all-time large wins.

Playing a immense server similar Mpetshi Perricard is not perfect for his hopes of uncovering rhythm, though Djokovic inactive has much than capable prime to bushed a subordinate who has won 7 of his 10 tour-level matches connected clay.

Former US Open champion Raducanu has endured different stop-start play aft picking up a microorganism successful February, with the after-effects limiting her to lone 2 tournaments since.

Raducanu made her instrumentality successful Strasbourg this week aft a two-month absence, losing successful consecutive sets to France's Diane Parry.

It volition beryllium absorbing to spot what 23-year-old Raducanu's expectations astatine Roland Garros are.

Her performances astatine the Grand Slams person mostly been disappointing and the limp mode successful which she mislaid successful the Australian Open 2nd circular was peculiarly disheartening.

Shortly afterwards she parted ways with Rafael Nadal's erstwhile manager Francisco Roig and has present rehired Andrew Richardson - the antheral who helped her daze the satellite by winning the 2021 US Open arsenic a teenage qualifier.

Raducanu has lone gone past the 3rd circular of a Grand Slam erstwhile since then.

The clay is not a aboveground she has ever felt wholly comfy connected and it has besides exacerbated a long-standing backmost issue.

If Richardson returning is going to spark a revival successful Raducanu's vocation it would apt not hap implicit the adjacent fortnight, fixed her deficiency of lucifer fittingness and a tricky draw.

Women's singles:

Aryna Sabalenka [1] v Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (Spa)

Coco Gauff (US) [4] v Taylor Townsend (US)

Emerson Jones (Aus) v Iga Swiatek (Pol) [3]

Men's singles:

Hugo Gaston (Fra) v Gael Monfils (Fra)

Stan Wawrinka (Sui) v Arthur Fils (Fra) [17]

Benjamin Bonzi (Fra) v Alexander Zverev (Ger) [2]