||Photo: Reuters
The draw for the 2019 edition of Roland-Garros is complete with four Canadians set to take part in the first round, Denis Shapovalov (Richmond Hill, ON), Félix Auger-Aliassime (Montreal, QC), Bianca Andreescu (Mississauga, ON) and Eugenie Bouchard (Montreal, QC). Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) has withdrawn due to a knee injury.
Shapovalov, the tournament’s 20th seed thanks to a ranking of 23, will face 29-year-old Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, who is currently ranked no. 44. This will be the third encounter between the two players with their previous meeting occurring earlier this year at the Monte Carlo Masters. Should Shapovalov win his opening three matches, he could take on World No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the fourth round. Last year, Shapovalov lost to German Maximilian Marterer in the second round.
Auger-Aliassime, currently ranked at a career-high no. 28, will take part in the main draw of a Grand Slam as a seeded player (25th) for the first time. The Montreal native will face Jordan Thompson (no. 69) of Australia in the first round. This will be the first time the two players have faced-off against each other. If Auger-Aliassime wins his opening two matches, he could play eighth-seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the third round. In 2018, Auger-Aliassime was beaten by Spain’s Jaume Munar in qualifications.
Andreescu, seeded 22nd, will face a qualifier in the first round. If she wins her opening two matches, the Mississauga native could cross paths with three-time Roland-Garros champion Serena Williams in the third round. Andreescu will be making her first appearance of the clay-court season after suffering a shoulder injury at the Miami Open in March. At last year’s tournament, Andreescu was beaten in the third round of qualifications by Richèl Hogenkamp of the Netherlands.
Ranked no. 77, Bouchard will come up against Lesia Tsurenko (no. 27) of Ukraine in the first round. The match will mark just the second meeting between the players with Tsurenko having won the previous encounter at Indian Wells in 2015. Bouchard could face Romania’s Simona Halep, ranked no. 3, in the third round, should she win her first two matches. Bouchard’s best performance at Roland-Garros came in 2014 when she reached the semi-finals.
(Feature photo: Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)
