By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -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.
Friday’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.
To win the title, Draper could have to beat Djokovic in the quarter-finals, Sinner in the semis and Alcaraz in the final.
BANANA SKIN
Britain’s women’s number one Emma Raducanu faces a potential first-round banana skin against compatriot Mingge (Mimi) Xu, one of three British teenaged wildcards in the women’s draw.
Should 2021 U.S. Open champion Raducanu win that she could play 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova or 32nd seed McCartney Kessler in the second round.
Sabalenka, whose opponent Branstine beat former U.S. Open winner Bianca Andreescu in qualifying, could face Raducanu or Vondrousova in the third round.
One potential standout second round match could feature Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, seeded five, against Japan’s four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka.
Spaniard Alcaraz, who warmed up for Wimbledon by winning the Queen’s Club title, will be wary of the threat posed by the enigmatic Fognini although the 38-year-old Italian is not the force he was when he reached ninth in the rankings in 2019.
Alcaraz could then face British qualifier Oliver Tarvet, the world number 719 whose reward for reaching the main draw is a first-round match against Swiss qualifier Leandro Riedi.
His potential semi-final opponent is Germany’s third seed Alexander Zverev, who plays France’s Arthur Rinderknech in his opening match.
As defending men’s champion, Alcaraz will open play on Centre Court on Monday which will feature the bottom half of the men’s draw and the top half of the women’s draw.
Czech Krejcikova will begin play on Centre Court on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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