After Bernard Tomic navigated his way through qualifying at the French Open, we now see 12 Australians taking part in the singles main draw.
In order of ranking, the players are Nick Kyrgios (23), John Millman (58), Matt Ebden (73), Jordan Thompson (85), James Duckworth (PR), Alex de Minaur (106) and Bernard Tomic (208) in the men’s main event starting on Sunday.
Ashleigh Barty (17), Daria Gavrilova (24), Samantha Stosur (60), Ajla Tomljanovic (68) and Isabelle Wallace (248) will take part in the women’s singles.
The round one matches are as follows:
Men
Nick Kyrgios [21] v Bernard Tomic (Q) – Kyrgios has withdrawn replaced by lucky loser Marco Trungelliti.
John Millman v Denis Shapovalov [24], Canada
Matt Ebden v Thomas Fabbiano, Italy
Jordan Thompson v Casper Ruud (Q), Norway
James Duckworth v Marin Cilic [3], Croatia
Alex de Minaur (W) v Kyle Edmund [16], Great Britain
Women
Ashleigh Barty [17] v Natalia Vikhlantseva, Russia
Daria Gavrilova [24] v Sorana Cirstea, Romania
Sam Stosur v Yanina Wickmayer
Ajla Tomljanovic v Elina Svitolina [4], Ukraine
Isabelle Wallace (W) v Alison Van Uytvanck, Belgium
Nick Kyrgios v Bernard Tomic – Kyrgios has withdrawn and was replaced by Marco Trungelliti as the lucky loser
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In an all-Australian match-up the top-ranked Australian meets the former top gun in Tomic. Kyrgios has only 15 singles matches to his name in 2018, with the majority of them coming in January. He has been troubled by an elbow injury which kept him out of several recent tournaments. Tomic dropped down to 243 on the ATP rankings before finding a bit of form in May, and on clay. Tomic has won seven straight matches played on clay. He did lose a final against John Millman in a Challenger event, and that match should have been played on clay, but torrential rain forced the match indoors onto a hard court.
Kyrgios has eased back into play by competing in the doubles tournament at Lyon with Jack Sock, the 21st seed has had some good time on court after reaching the final with Sock.
This match is hard to call. Tomic has form on the board and Kyrgios has not played a singles match since mid-April, perhaps his time of the clay in Lyon could give Kyrgios the edge.
Kyrgios withdrew from the tournament and was replaced by Marco Trungelliti who is a lucky loser.
John Millman v Denis Shapovalov [24], Canada
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John Millman tweeted on May 21 that he had to withdraw from his match at the Lyon tournament and that he was working hard to sort out a couple of things with the body. Not an ideal preparation for a grand slam. Millman has been playing well on clay. He won the Challenger event in Aix En Provence, France and also reached the final of the ATP 250 event in Budapest.
Shapovalov was a struggling player when I saw him play in Canberra back in January 2017. He was mostly playing Challenger tournaments until getting his big break at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Montreal. He upset Rafael Nadal in the round of 16 before losing to Alexander Zverev in the semifinals. That along with several tournament wins on the Challenger tour pushed his ranking to 69 by the time the US Open came around. Despite the higher ranking he was forced to qualify as at the time of entries closing he was outside the automatic cutoff. Another good performance at the US Open where he reached the fourth round catapulted him towards the top 50.
With more good performances, especially in reaching the semifinals in Madrid, Shapovalov now sits at a career-high ranking of 26. Taking into account his form at the top level I see Shapovalov downing Millman in straight sets.
Matt Ebden v Thomas Fabbiano, Italy
v This is the first meeting between Ebden and Fabbiano in the main draw event, Fabbiano did defeat Ebden in the first round of qualifying at the 2016 Shenzhen 250 event. The Italian is ranked at 115 compared to Ebden at 73. Ebden won the Busan Open Challenger last weekend, but this was a hard court event. He goes into the French Open with no matches on clay this year. Fabbiano had played the clay court season and reached the quarterfinals in the Istanbul Open 250 event. Time spent on the clay gives the Italian the edge. I tip Fabbiano to win in four sets.
Jordan Thompson v Casper Ruud (Q), Norway
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Jordan Thompson has mostly been competing on the Challenger Tour where he has had good results. He won the Chennai Open in February and was the runnerup in the Seoul and Kyoto tournaments. Thompson has also lost at the semifinal stage in Kunming, Nanchang and Yokohoma, with two tournaments played on clay. In all of the ATP events Thompson has lost in the first round, the most recent coming at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship where he lost to the 108 ranked Bjorn Fratangelo from the USA.
Casper Ruud is currently ranked at 158. The 19-year-old from Norway is showing some good form on clay in the Challenger tournaments having lost two finals on clay in Braga, Portugal and Francavilla, Italy. Ruud also has managed to win five from 10 ATP level tournament matches including reaching the second round at the Australian Open after battling through qualifying.
This is a match that could also go either way. I am tipping a Ruud win.
James Duckworth v Marin Cilic [3], Croatia
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James Duckworth at the end of 2016 was a player on the rise. He had won the Canberra Challenger in early November, then followed that up with a final appearance in Kobe and another title at the Challenger level in Toyota, Japan. With the boost in rankings points he earned direct entry into the 2017 Australian Open, that was a first for him. Duckworth played his round one match against Paolo Lorenzi at the Australian Open, lost, and then did not play again in 2017 after undergoing foot surgery.
Now ranked at 1070, Duckworth was able to use a protected entry to play at the French Open. You can read all about what that is on the French Open website. Without any match play under his belt it is hard to tip anything but a loss for Duckworth in his match against the no. 3 seed Marin Cilic.
Alex de Minaur (W) v Kyle Edmund [16], Great Britain
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19-year-old Australian, Alex de Minaur was awarded a wildcard by Tennis Australia in a reciprocal arrangement that runs across Grand Slam tournaments. He is drawn to play the no. 16 seed Kyle Edmund from Great Britain. De Minaur got off to an amazing start in 2018. He reached the semifinals in Brisbane then went one better in Sydney, losing a hard-fought battle against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. He then had to face Tomas Berdych in the first round at the Australian Open. He managed to win the first set, before losing in four sets.
Next up, de Minaur went close to pulling off a big upset in the Davis Cup tie against Germany, losing in five sets against Alexander Zverev. De Minaur next made the second round at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 event. He then bounced between the ATP World Tour Events and the Challenger Tour events. His best showing came in the Braga Open earlier this month where he reached the semifinal. This was on clay.
At the Estoril Open, an ATP 250 World Tour event, de Minaur reached the second round where he lost 6-2, 7-5 to Kyle Edmund. De Minuar had a look at a lot of break points against Edmund, so he was in that match. Edmund reached the final of the clay court 250 event in Marrakech and also reached the quarterfinals in Madrid and the third round in Rome. Recent top level form gives the edge to Edmund, but if he has an off day we could see an upset. The most likely outcome is an Edmund victory in four sets.
Ashleigh Barty [17] v Natalia Vikhlantseva, Russia
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Ash Barty was playing well on clay at the Strasbourg tournament. Barty made the semis before being forced to retire with a lower back injury. “I’ve never had it before but, hopefully with recovery in the next couple of days, I’ll still be able to play at Roland Garros. We’ll see,” Barty said when talking about the injury.
Without the injury cloud, Barty would be expected to win this matchup against world no.81 Natalia Vikhlyantseva, now we have to wait and see how Barty shapes up on Tuesday. If Barty shows up and looks to have solved her back problem I tip Barty in straight sets.
Daria Gavrilova [24] v Sorana Cirstea, Romania
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Daria Gavrilova hasn’t set the world on fire in 2018. She got off to a reasonable start reaching the semifinals at Sydney and Acapulco. After that, she reached a few third rounds, most recently on clay in Rome. The highlight in Rome was the defeat of world no. 3 Garbine Muguruza. Gavrilova has improved her serve over recent months. Sorana Cirstea is a tough opening round opponent for Gavrilova, she is ranked at 45. Cirstea has only once had more than two wins at a tournament in 2018, that was at Doha where she lost in the round of 16 against Garbine Muguruza.
I am tipping Gavrilova in three sets.
Sam Stosur v Yanina Wickmayer
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Sam Stosur reached the 2010 final at Roland Garros and was also a semifinalist in 2009, 2012 and 2016. In 2017 Stosur was playing well before a hand injury affected her play, before losing in three sets to eventual champion, Jelena Ostapenko. Stosur’s form has been patchy elsewhere. Her best result in 2018 has been reaching the quarterfinals in Prague which was on clay. Stosur is 4-2 in the head-to-head standings against Wickmayer the world no. 101.
Wickmayer has some good form on the board in 2018, however based on Stosur’s liking for the red clay of Paris I am tipping Stosur in three sets.
Ajla Tomljanovic v Elina Svitolina [4], Ukraine
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Ajla Tomljanovic has come back well from injury in 2018 and reached a final in Rabat, Morocco on clay and semifinals at Indian Wells and Newport Beach. Unfortunately for Tomljanovic she is drawn to play the no. 4 seed Elina Svitolina who is fresh from winning in Rome against the world no. 1 Simon Halep. I am tipping Svitolina in straight sets.
Isabelle Wallace (W) v Alison Van Uytvanck, Belgium
v Isabelle Wallace is from Scotland but moved to Australia when she was 10. Now based in Spain she won the wildcard playoff to reach the main draw. Wallace will be playing in her first grand slam tournament. World no. 46 Alison Van Uytvanck will be a tough opponent. She won the Budapest tournament in February and just recently got some good practice on clay when winning two qualifying matches and the main draw match at Rome before losing to Caroline Wozniacki. I am tipping the Belgium player in straight sets.
