Tennis – Carlos Alcaraz will begin his quest for a third successive Wimbledon title against dangerous Italian Fabio Fognini and women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka will open her campaign versus Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine.
Yesday’s draw conducted at the All England Club produced its usual intrigue with some eye-catching first-round clashes.
Men’s top seed Jannik Sinner, beaten by Alcaraz in the French Open final this month, meets fellow Italian Luca Nardi, while sixth seed Novak Djokovic, seeking to tie Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon singles titles, has a tricky opener against France’s world number 40 Alexandre Muller.
Women’s defending champion Barbora Krejcikova, the 17th seed who pulled out of the Eastbourne tournament on Thursday with a thigh strain, faces Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.
Women’s second seed Coco Gauff’s first-round opponent is Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, while third seed Jessica Pegula, Gauff’s likely semi-final opponent, plays Italian qualifier Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Fourth seed Jasmine Paolini, runner-up last year, faces Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.
Belarusian Sabalenka is seeded to meet Paolini in the semi-finals.
Britain has 23 players in the singles events, the most for the home nation since 1984, with men’s fourth seed Jack Draper carrying the weight of expectation on his shoulders after a rapid rise.
Draper faces a tough path though if he is to emulate twice champion Andy Murray.
The 23-year-old has a tricky opener against Argentina’s 38th ranked Sebastian Baez and could face former runner-up Marin Cilic of Croatia in round two and Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, who he lost to at Roland Garros, in the third round.
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