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Thiem to play former World No. 3 Cilic in another star-studded opener
Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka will play in a battle of three-time Grand Slam champions in the first round at Roland Garros.

The stars have met 20 times in their ATP Head2Head series, with Murray claiming 12 of those matches. They clashed in both the 2016 and 2017 Paris semi-finals, with the latter of those battles proving a pivotal moment for both players.

“Been a long journey to get back on Court Philipe Chatrier. Three-and-a-half years since I played @stanwawrinka85 in a brutal five-set semi-final, which turned out to be the end of my hip,” Murray wrote on Instagram Tuesday. “It was a pleasure to be back @rolandgarros and a huge thank you to the @fftennis for giving me the opportunity to play here again .”


Wawrinka won that 2017 semi-final after a thrilling four hours and 34 minutes, but it took a toll on both of them. The Swiss underwent two left knee surgeries in August 2017, and Murray would have right hip surgery in January 2018 and January 2019.

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Their most recent match came in last year's Antwerp final, in which Murray rallied to win his first ATP Tour singles title since 2017 Dubai.

"It means a lot. The past few years have been extremely difficult. Both me and Stan have had a lot of injury problems in the past couple of years," Murray said at the time. "Amazing to be back playing against him in a final like that."

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The winner of their Roland Garros battle will play in-form home German Dominik Koepfer or Frenchman Antoine Hoang in the second round.

Another tantalising first-round match pits recent US Open champion Dominic Thiem against former World No. 3 Marin Cilic. The third seed has won each of their three meetings, but the Croatian showed in Flushing Meadows just weeks ago that he is still capable of pushing the Austrian when he is firing. Thiem battled past Cilic in that match 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. That third set was the only set he lost en route to the final.

David Goffin, the 11th seed, will have his hands full against reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Jannik Sinner. The 19-year-old Italian won their only previous match 7-6(7), 7-5 earlier this year in Rotterdam. Their encounter promises to provide thrilling baseline rallies, with both players looking to take charge of the baseline on the terre batture.

One of the most entertaining first-round clashes might be between eighth seed Gael Monfils and Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik. They are two of the biggest showmen on the ATP Tour. Monfils is arguably the quickest player on Tour and he has the ability to unleash incredible power when necessary. Bublik enjoys using his underarm serve and drop shot, which should create exciting rallies.

Home favourite Richard Gasquet will try to spring a surprise against rock-solid 10th seed Roberto Bautista Agut. The favoured Spaniard has won six of their eight meetings, but this will be their first clay-court clash. Will the French magician be able to find the level that took him as high as World No. 7 to upset Bautista Agut?

Second seed Martinez leads other qualifiers Thursday
Thirty years ago, Andres Gomez lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros. On Thursday his son, Emilio Gomez, guaranteed that he will play in a Grand Slam main draw for the first time at the same venue.

The 28-year-old Gomez rallied past Kazakhstani Dmitry Popko 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(1). The Ecuadorian trailed 0-3, 30/40 in the deciding set and faced two match points while serving at 4-5, before recovering to triumph after two hours and 31 minutes.

“It was a roller-coaster of ups and downs… It was crazy,” Gomez said. “It was the first time I was in a situation like that, [with] that much nervousness during a match. It was really a big deal for me to get through it.”

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This was Gomez’s eighth attempt to qualify for a Grand Slam. He had only previously reached the final round of qualifying once (2014 US Open). The 2019 Tallahassee ATP Challenger Tour champion beat top-seeded Thiago Seyboth Wild in the first qualifying round, but not everything went according to plan on Thursday in Paris.

“I’m going to be honest, I was not feeling 100 per cent physically today. I had a sore back in the warm-up and I was not expecting that because I felt great during the whole week,” Gomez said. “Every time we stopped because of the rain [after the first set and the second set] it was bad for me… I think the will to win was stronger than all the pain I was feeling in that third set. It was well played by me. I played super aggressive and kind of forgot about everything [and] where I was. I was looking for my first main draw appearance at a Grand Slam, [which is] especially [important] here at the French Open.

“It took a lot of running and a lot of guts to pull it out after having two match points against me.”

Seven other players advanced to the main draw on Thursday, led by second seed Pedro Martinez. The Spaniard beat American Ulises Blanch 6-2, 6-3. Entertaining shotmaker Dustin Brown fell one step short when Italian Lorenzo Giustino beat him 6-3, 7-5.

Brit Liam Broady, who was supported by Andy Murray, advanced through qualifying at a major for the first time when he ousted Aussie 12th seed Marc Polmans 7-6(5), 6-4. The lefty will play a Grand Slam main draw for the fourth time, having competed at Wimbledon on three occasions as a wild card.

The other players to make it through Slam qualifying for the first time are Steven Diez, Aleksandar Vukic and Daniel Altmaier. Diez defeated Enzo Couacaud 6-3, 6-4, Vukic beat 15th seed Jason Jung 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and Daniel Altmaier eliminated Ruben Bemelmans 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. For Diez, it was his 16th major qualifying attempt.

Austrian Sebastian Ofner also moved on, ousting Swede Elias Ymer 7-6(4), 7-6(5).