French Open: Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka begin campaigns
Wednesday 25 May 2016 08:17, UK
Andy Murray and defending champion Stan Wawrinka headline day two of the French Open with Agnieszka Radwanska and Heather Watson also in action.
Play is scheduled to get underway at 10am UK time but with another day or rain expected the organisers may find themselves playing further catch-up after Sunday's start to proceedings was halted by a 5.30pm finish with only 10 matches completed.
Kei Nishikori, Jack Sock and Svetlana Kuznetsova are among the names who will be back out in the hope of completing their first round matches which began on Sunday, with Watson also slated to play out her match with Nicole Gibbs on Court Three - the British No 2 is level at one set all but trails by a break in the decider.
Murray arrives at Roland Garros as the most in-form of the top-seeded men after his straight-sets victory over Novak Djokovic in the final of the Rome Masters.
The world No 2 is seeded second and starts against Radek Stepanek in what should prove a decent work-out on Court Philippe-Chatrier .
The Czech veteran took Murray to three sets in Madrid a few weeks ago and beat Murray as recently as 2014 at Queen's, however with Murray in fine form he should prove too strong for 37-year-old Stepanek in their ninth career meeting - he leads the head-to-head 6-2.
Defending champion Wawrinka will hope to build on the third title of his season, he claimed the trophy in Geneva on Saturday to put a disappointing run of results in the clay Masters events behind him. The Swiss stunned Djokovic in last year's Roland Garros final and he will begin his campaign with a tough-looking test against Lukas Rosol.
Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska is aiming to improve a dismal record in Paris - she has never gone further than the quarter-finals - and she faces Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski, while fourth seed Garbine Muguruza will hope for better in her rescheduled match against Anna Schmiedlova.
One to Watch
The all-French affair between wild card Julien Benneteau and 29th seed Lucas Pouille should be an enjoyable watch while Milos Raonic's match with Janko Tipsarevic was our 'One to Watch' for Sunday but, having been moved to Monday, it has been usurped by the clash between Thomaz Bellucci and Richard Gasquet.
Brazil's Bellucci is something of a maverick and took a set off Novak Djokovic in Rome. His crowd-pleasing antics should make for a memorable encounter with home favourite and ninth seed Gasquet on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
The all-French affair between wild card Julien Benneteau and 29th seed Lucas Pouille should be an enjoyable watch while in the women's event Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni takes on Daniela Hantuchova in a clash of players who have enjoyed better seasons but are capable on the biggest of stages.
Surprise in Store?
In the men's event we will head to the outside courts for our surprise and the third match on Court 14, if we get there, will see Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco up against 33rd seed Steve Johnson.
Thirty-two-year-old Verdasco is down to No 56 in the world rankings but is a huge threat on the red dirt and Johnson is far from comfortable on the surface.
Perhaps the biggest surprise given the forecast would be an uninterrupted day of play!
Brit Watch
As well as Murray, who will begin his campaign, and Watson, who will look to close out a win against Gibbs, Naomi Broady is also scheduled to be in action.
The 26-year-old is ranked 79 in the world and will face American doubles specialist Coco Vandeweghe, who is ranked 39 places above her.
Kyle Edmund's match with Nikoloz Basilashvili has also been rearranged for Monday and the Brit will hope to continue a good run of recent form.
In Case You Missed It
Rain scuppered most on Sunday's opening day in the French capital but Nick Kyrgios and Petra Kvitova were among the names to complete their first round encounters.
Kyrgios managed to get himself in hot water with the officials again after an outburst aimed at a ball-boy, while he also brought up a Novak Djokovic incident in Rome that he felt showed the unfairness of a code violation.
"What rules am I breaking? How can you sit there and give me a code for that? But when Djokovic pushes an umpire out of the way that's alright? Tell the whole world that's alright. Unbelievable bias man. Unbelievable bias."
