FOUR CANADIANS SET TO COMPETE IN THE MAIN DRAW AT THE FRENCH OPEN

Bianca Andreescu, Milos Raonic and Félix Auger-Aliassime are among the top seeds

The official draw for the 2021 French Open has been made this morning. A total of four Canadian players will be competing in the main draw, as Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON), Félix Auger-Aliassime (Montreal, QC), Bianca Andreescu (Toronto, ON) and Leylah Annie Fernandez (Laval, QC) are all set to compete in singles.

A fifth Canadian could also make her way to the main draw in Paris, as Carol Zhao (Toronto, ON) will be facing Spanish Lara Arruabarrena in the final qualification round tomorrow.

For Raonic, the French Open will be his first tournament since the Miami Open in March and his first appearance on clay this season. He will be the No. 17 seed this year in Paris. In the opening round, he will take on for their first time in his career Thiago Monteiro of Brazil. Other possible match-ups for the 30-year-old include Pablo Carreno Busta (No. 12) in the third round, Stefanos Tsitsipas (No. 5) in the fourth and Daniil Medvedev (No. 2) in the final eight.

The No. 20 seed will be Auger-Aliassime, who is taking part in the main draw at the French Open for the second time in his career. In his debut match, he will face Andreas Seppi of Italy. Playing in the third quarter of the draw, the Canadian could face another Italian, Matteo Berrettini (No. 9), and could also be competing against Roger Federer (No. 8) in the fourth round, Novak Djokovic (No. 1) in the quarters and Rafael Nadal in the semis.

On the women’s side, Andreescu (No. 6) will also be competing in Paris for the second time in her career, her last appearance dating back to the 2019 edition where she unfortunately had to withdraw in the second round. It’s also going to be Bianca’s second tournament since coming back from a foot injury and having tested positive for COVID-19. In the opening round at the French Open, the 20-year-old will take on Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia. Andreescu is in the bottom quarter of the draw, with potential match-ups against Belinda Bencic (No. 10) in the fourth round and Naomi Osaka (No. 2) in the quarters.

Fernandez will again be back on the clay courts in Paris, having notably been crowned champion of the Junior French Open in 2019. At only 18 years old, she is directly into the main draw thanks to her ranking of No. 69 on the WTA Tour. She will face Anastasia Potapova of Russia the first round. The young Canadian is in the third quarter of the draw, with the likes of Aryna Sabalenka (No. 3) and Serena Williams (No. 7).