Friday, May 25, 2018

Querrey to face fellow Yank Tiafoe in French Open

   No. 12 seed Sam Querrey will play fellow American and rising star Frances Tiafoe in the first round of the French Open.
   The draw for the year's second Grand Slam tournament was held on Thursday in Paris. The main draw begins Sunday at 2 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel).
   Querrey, a 30-year-old San Francisco native, is 1-0 against Tiafoe, 20. Querrey won 6-3, 7-6 (7) in the second round at Shanghai last October.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey is 4-11 in the French Open with three consecutive first-round losses. His best result was a third-round appearance in 2013. Tiafoe is 0-2 at Roland Garros.
   Querrey is ranked 13th and Tiafoe 61st.
   On the women's side, 10th-seeded Sloane Stephens will play a qualifier to be determined.
   Stephens, a 25-year-old Fresno product, missed last year's French Open while recovering from foot surgery. In her fifth tournament back, she won the U.S. Open for her first Grand Slam title.
   Stephens reached the fourth round at Roland Garros for four consecutive years (2012-15), her best showings there.
   Querrey and the 10th-ranked Stephens are situated in the bottom quarter of their respective draws. Also in those quarters are No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev and No. 7 Dominic Thiem among the men, and No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 8 Petra Kvitova among the women.
   Another San Francisco native, 19-year-old CiCi Bellis, remains out with a right elbow injury. She has not played since losing to Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-0 in the first round at Miami in late March.
   Ex-Stanford star Nicole Gibbs, seeded eighth in French Open qualifying, lost to Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 6-0, 5-7, 6-1 in the second round.

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