The Coupe des Mousquetaires and the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen, trophies awarded to the lads’s and girls’s French Open champions, had been on show, guarded by safety, close to the Court docket Philippe-Chatrier on Thursday morning. It was no shock that they gathered fairly a crowd.
Two weeks from Saturday (les femmes) and from Sunday (les hommes) they are going to be held aloft by a girl and a person celebrating victory in arguably the hardest tennis event on the earth.
The pathway to success within the 2023 Les Internationaux de France was outlined on the draw ceremony held within the L’Orangerie pavilion on the Roland-Garros web site Thursday afternoon.
From the Canadian perspective it didn’t take lengthy for the surprises to emerge. The preliminary pc rollout of the unseeded participant revealed that each Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez could be enjoying seeded gamers. It didn’t take lengthy, because the seeds had been drawn from the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen by French Nationwide Rugby group captain Antoine Dupont, to find that there could be a jaw-dropper first spherical between Andreescu and 18th seeded Victoria Azarenka.
A number of moments later the token belonging to No. 21 seed Magda Linette of Poland was picked out to play Fernandez.
This was all the time going to be a chance as a result of neither the No. 41-ranked Andreescu (above on Thursday with coach Christophe Lambert within the background) or No. 51 Fernandez had the safety afforded by being one of many 32 seeds.
Will probably be a primary assembly between two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka (2012-13) and 2019 US Open winner Andreescu. Roland-Garros has traditionally been the weakest of Azarenka’s Grand Slam occasions – she has solely as soon as gone previous the third spherical (spherical of 16 in 2021) since she reached the semi-finals 10 years in the past in 2013. Thus far in 2023 she has a modest 13-9 file and is simply 2-2 on clay in Charleston, Madrid and Rome, the place she pulled out of her second match in opposition to Madison Keys with a proper leg harm.
Andreescu, who suffered two tears in her left ankle in Miami in March, has solely performed two matches on clay – losing 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 to No. 65 Wang Xiyu in Madrid after which 6-0, 6-1 to 2019 Roland-Garros finalist Marketa Vondrousova in Rome.
However everybody is aware of Andreescu’s pedigree and he or she seemed sharp in an up-tempo observe session with a hitting accomplice on Court docket 3 at Roland-Garros on Thursday.
The draw – above top-seed and defending champion Iga Swiatek made an look after the lads’s draw was accomplished – might even have been kinder to Fernandez, who’s 4-5 on clay in 2023. That features a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 loss to No. 69 Peyton Stearns of the U.S. within the second spherical of the WTA 250 event in Rabat, Morocco, this week.
She has a 1-1 file in opposition to the 31-year-old Linette, a shock semi-finalist on the Australian Open in January – Linette successful in Charleston in 2022 and Fernandez prevailing within the opening spherical of Roland-Garros in 2020.
Like Fernandez, Linette, seeded No. 21, misplaced within the second spherical of her occasion this week, the WTA 250 in Strasbourg. She was crushed 6-3, 6-2 by No. 96-ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Fernandez can be hoping to achieve inspiration from her efficiency a 12 months in the past in Paris. Then she appeared destined to achieve the semi-finals however misplaced a quarter-final to Martina Trevisan when she injured her proper foot early within the match however carried on. It turned out later to be a stress fracture and saved her off the tour for nearly two months.
Rebecca Marino, 32, is enjoying simply her third Roland-Garros since 2011, the 12 months she gained her solely two matches within the event. Now ranked No. 79, she faces 19-year-old Diana Shnaider. The left-handed Russian made fairly a breakthrough on the 2023 Australian Open when she reached the second spherical as a qualifier. She had an total file of 55-17 file in 2022 and is at the moment enrolled at North Carolina State College.
Marino has solely performed one occasion on clay this season – in Madrid final month the place she defeated No. 39 Zhu Lin 7-6(1), 6-4 earlier than losing 6-3, 6-1 to No. 29 Elise Mertens.
Will probably be a primary assembly for Marino and Shnaider, who has a optimistic and outgoing character.
Not like Andreescu and Fernandez, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov had been seeded and each seem to have moderately beneficial attracts.
Auger-Aliassime (above his match-up is blown out through the draw ceremony) will play temperamental Italian Fabio Fognini. The 35-year-old, ranked No. 130, is a little bit of a fading power lately. However he beat No. 42 Andy Murray and No. 37 Miomir Kecmanovic in Rome not too long ago earlier than shedding 6-4, 6-2 to No. 7 Holger Rune.
Learn additionally: Opportunity Knocks at Roland-Garros Without Rafael Nadal
Auger-Aliassime is 1-0 versus Fognini – a win in Rio de Janeiro in 2019 – however the whole lot is up within the air now that he pulled out of a quarter-final match on the ATP 250 occasion in Lyon in opposition to Arthur Fils on Thursday with a shoulder situation.
Auger-Aliassime can have good recollections of the 2022 French Open – reaching the spherical of 16 earlier than shedding in 5 units to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
If he’s capable of play, this is able to be Auger-Aliassime’s fourth Roland-Garros and he would enter it with an total 3-3 file.
Shapovalov – seen above practising on Thursday on Court docket No. 16 on the excessive finish of the Roland-Garros grounds – enters Roland-Garros ranked No. 31 however because the No. 26 seed. He has solely performed three matches on clay this spring – beating No. 155-ranked qualifier Jozef Kovalik in Barcelona earlier than shedding 6-3, 6-2 to No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas after which exiting Madrid 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(1) in a match against No. 99 Zhang Zhizhen.
He’ll renew acquaintances with Brandon Nakashima within the first spherical at Roland-Garros. The 21-year-old American gained their solely earlier assembly 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(6) within the second spherical at Wimbledon final 12 months.
Shapovalov entered 2023 ranked No. 18 and might be lucky to have solely dropped to No. 31 along with his lacklustre 7-9 file thus far this season.
MARVELLOUS MIRRA
Mirra Andreeva is the new “it girl” on the WTA Tour. The 16-year-old (April 29, 2007) Russian has compiled a 19-2 file for 2023, together with successful two ITF occasions and reaching the round-of-16 on the WTA 1000 earlier this month in Madrid with wins over No. 49 Fernandez, No. 14 Beatriz Haddad Maia and No. 19 Linette.
On Thursday she made it to her first Grand Slam essential draw, attracting a full home crowd to Court docket 7 for her 7-6(8), 6-4 victory excessive seed within the qualifying, No. 84-ranked Camila Osorio of Colombia.
Though susceptible to moments of frustration, the tall Andreeva has a regal presence on courtroom and the look of a future famous person.
The watering of the Roland-Garros courts, because the gents within the image above reveal, is one thing of an artwork kind.
It usually looks as if the Roland-Garros ballkids are in a perpetual state of movement. Whether or not it’s exterior their assigned courts getting warmed up – or working on and off through the matches, they’re an energetic, athletic bunch.
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