Emma Raducanu has avoided a top seed in the opening round at the French Open and has been drawn against Argentine Solana Sierra.
Raducanu’s two-month absence from the tour has meant she has dropped out of the seeded places for the tournament. This puts her at the mercy of the draw.
Should she beat Sierra, Raducanu would be likely to face 13th seed Jasmine Paolini. Elena Rybakina, the second seed, is also in her section of the draw, although the two would not face each other until the fourth round.
Raducanu had been due to face Sierra at the Italian Open, before she abruptly pulled out on the eve of the tournament, citing the after-effects of an illness she contracted at the start of the year in Cluj, Romania.
Raducanu withdrew from three WTA 1000 events: Miami, Madrid and Rome, as well as Linz, before she returned to action with a new coach in Strasbourg.
Andrew Richardson was Raducanu’s head coach when she won the US Open in 2021. After travelling to Spain to work with him for a few days before Rome, the arrangement was made permanent.
Katie Boulter will start her tournament against American qualifier Akasha Urhobo and could face defending champion Coco Gauff in the fourth round.
British No 4 Francesca Jones, who narrowly missed out on automatic qualification before being awarded a place in the main draw after withdrawals, will take on Beatriz Haddad Maia. If she wins, Marie Bouzkova is likely to be her opponent in the next round.
On the men’s side of the draw, British No 1 Cameron Norrie has been drawn against Paraguayan Adolfo Daniel Vallejo. If he wins, he could face Marin Cilic in the second and Valentin Vacherot in the third.
Jacob Fearnley could meet world No 1 and major favourite for the men’s title, Jannik Sinner, in the second round if he beats Juan Manuel Cerúndolo of Argentina in his opening match.
World No 159 Toby Samuel is into his first grand slam main draw after coming through qualifying.
The 23-year-old has enjoyed the biggest ranking rise of any men’s player in the last 12 months, climbing 1,601 places. On December 30, he was ranked 1,867 in the world and had moved up to 266 by the start of 2026.
He described reaching the main draw of his first qualifying at Roland Garros as a “dream come true”.