French Open 2018: Roles reversed for Kyle Edmund as teenage Alex de Minaur seeks prize scalp
Edmund, who climbed this week to a career-high position at No 17 in the world rankings, has been drawn to face Alex de Minaur, a 19-year-old Australian of great potential
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Your support makes all the difference.Not so long ago it was Kyle Edmund who was the young upstart hoping to topple a seed or two, but his role will be reversed when he starts the French Open here next week.
Edmund, who climbed this week to a career-high position at No 17 in the world rankings, has been drawn to face Alex de Minaur, a 19-year-old Australian of great potential, in the first round. De Minaur, who is in the draw courtesy of a wild card, is also at a career-best position in the rankings list, having moved up to No 106 earlier this month.
In the continuing absence of the injured Andy Murray, Edmund will be Britain’s best hope of success over the next fortnight. The 23-year-old Briton loves playing on clay, having won in the first round of all three of his previous appearances in the main draw here. He reached the third round last year before letting slip a two-sets-to-one lead against Kevin Anderson.
Although Edmund’s progress stalled momentarily after his memorable start to this year, when he reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open, he has come good again during the clay-court season. He played in his first tour final in Marrakech, made the quarter-finals in Madrid after successive victories over Novak Djokovic and David Goffin, and reached the third round in Rome last week before losing to Alexander Zverev.
De Minaur has a Uruguayan father and a Spanish mother. He was born in Sydney and has an Australian passport, but currently lives in Spain. He has lost in the first round in three of his four previous appearances at Grand Slam tournaments, but beat Gerald Melzer on his Australian Open debut last year.
If Edmund wins he will face Canada’s Vasek Pospisil or Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in the second round. Italy’s Fabio Fognini, one of the world’s best clay-court players, is a potential third-round opponent, with Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro possibly in Edmund’s path thereafter.
Cameron Norrie, who will be playing in a Grand Slam tournament by dint of his world ranking for the first time, had the best win of his career when he beat John Isner 7-6, 6-4 today in this week’s clay-court tournament in Lyon. Norrie, who will break into the world’s top 100 for the first time on Monday, will face France’s Gilles Simon in his first tour-level semi-final tomorrow.
Norrie’s first-round opponent next week will be Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk, who today reached the semi-finals in Geneva. The 28-year-old German, who, like Norrie, will be making his debut in the main draw here, is currently at his highest position in the world rankings at No 49.
Rafael Nadal will begin his quest for an 11th French Open title against Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov, while Novak Djokovic will face a qualifier.
Britain’s Johanna Konta, who has never won a match in the main draw at Roland Garros, has been given a challenging task against Yulia Putintseva, a feisty 23-year-old from Kazakhstan who has a good record on these courts.
Putintseva took the first set off Serena Williams in the quarter-finals two years ago before losing in three. The world No 93, who beat Heather Watson in the first round of the Australian Open in January, also reached the second round last year before losing to Garbine Muguruza.
Konta, who beat Putintseva for the loss of only three games in Rome 12 months ago, is still looking for her first victory at Roland Garros. The world No 22 suffered a surprising defeat to Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh, the world No 109, in the first round last year. If she lives up to her seeding and reaches the third round next week Konta could face Venus Williams.
Watson, the only other Briton in the women’s singles, has a decent record here, having won a match in five of her six appearances in the main draw. The 26-year-old from Guernsey has a winnable first-round match against France’s Oceane Dodin, the world No 133.
However, Watson has had a poor run of late. After reaching the semi-finals in Hobart in January, she suffered eight consecutive first-round defeats in tournaments, which she finally ended in Nuremberg this week before losing second time out to Hungary’s Fanny Stollar.
Serena Williams, who is unseeded after taking time off to have a baby and has played only four matches in the last 17 months, will face the world No 70, Kristyna Pliskova, whose sister Karolina is the world No 6.
Muguruza, who won the title here two years ago and Wimbledon last year, has a tough first-round match against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Jelena Ostapenko begins the defence of her title against the Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova, while Maria Sharapova, the 2014 champion, will play a qualifier.
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