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A reduced French Open singles contingent of two, Eugenie Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil draw tough first-round opponents

A reduced French Open singles contingent of two, Eugenie Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil draw tough first-round opponents

PARIS – Genie Bouchard is the top Canadian woman in the 2015 French Open singles draw.

She is also the only Canadian woman in the 2015 French Open singles draw.

Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil are it, for this year's Canadian contingent in singles. And that's a bit of shocker after many years where there were multiple countrymen and women in the qualifying, a few of whom would always get through.

It really makes you miss the likes of Aleksandra Wozniak (injured), Frank Dancevic (lost in the first round of qualifying), Peter Polansky (injured), Stéphanie Dubois (retired) and Sharon Fichman (just missed the qualifying cut after being straight into the main draw a year ago)

With Milos Raonic skipping Roland Garros after having surgery on his right foot just nine days ago, Pospisil is the only representative on the male side. And he, too, has health questions.

The state of Pospisil's ankle is a question mark going into the French Open, but he's giving it a shot.  (Ella Ling/BPI Rex)
The state of Pospisil's ankle is a question mark going into the French Open, but he's giving it a shot.  (Ella Ling/BPI Rex)

Pospisil rolled his ankle rather severely a couple of weeks ago in Madrid during a doubles match, as he tried to avoid stepping on the foot of American partner Jack Sock. After some intensive rehab at home in Bradenton, Fla., he is in Paris. And he is in the draw.

But with rather limited clay-court preparation (he began it a little later than planned to make sure the knee tendonitis he had been dealing with during the big winter hard-court tournaments in the U.S. was under control), the best-of-five set format and some uncertainty as to fitness, his prospects are unknown.

Both Bouchard, who is the No. 6 seed on the women's side, and Pospisil (unseeded), drew quality opponents in the first round.

For Bouchard, it is Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, who just turned 22 last week. And it will be a challenging task in ways both obvious and more subtle.

Ranked No. 54 (her career high of No. 36 came nearly two years ago), Mladenovic hasn't been on the same acute career arc as Bouchard, who is just a year younger. But she's a "showtime" player in the sense that when the spotlight is on – and it surely is on for French players at Roland Garros – she can beat anyone.

Blessed with height and a big serve, big groundstrokes and a full arsenal of shot options, Mladenovic's best results have come in mixed doubles. As it happens, they have come with Bouchard's veteran compatriot, Daniel Nestor.

Nestor and Mladenovic came up one match short in the Australian Open mixed doubles final this year. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Nestor and Mladenovic came up one match short in the Australian Open mixed doubles final this year. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

Mladenovic and Nestor (who is nearly twice her age) won the Wimbledon mixed title in 2013, and the Australian Open mixed a year ago. They reached the final again last January, losing to Leander Paes and Martina Hingis in the final.

She has 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour.

Mladenovic has had some good results on the clay this spring – not spectacular, mind you, but much better than those of Bouchard by a long way. She'll play the singles final in Strasbourg Saturday against 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur. And she managed to do it without having to expend too much energy, after she was given a walkover by No. 1 seed Madison Keys, and had compatriot Virginie Razzano retire in the second set of their semi-final on Friday.

A year ago, she shocked the tennis world by upsetting former champion Li Na in the first round in Paris, in what turned out to be Li's final French Open. She took Andrea Petkovic to three sets before bowing out in the third round. That's what we mean by her being a "showtime" player.

She loves every bit of the attention, and she thinks she deserves it, too. Not lacking in confidence, that one. And given Bouchard is feeling the exact opposite way these days, this first-rounder is going to be a very tricky one.

As for Pospisil, he plays Joao Sousa of Brazil. As it happens, Sousa also is in the singles final of a warmup event Saturday, this one in Geneva, Switzerland. The Portuguese player had a couple of long three-set matches in his last two rounds.

At the very least, Bouchard and Pospisil can count on the fact that their first-round opponents might be a little weary when they arrive in Paris; as both are in the top half of their respective draws, they are guaranteed not to be among the players getting a Sunday start (The French Open is the only Grand Slam to start on the first Sunday, and it's a bit of a dud as a day; there are not that many matches scheduled, the atmosphere isn't quite the same. And if you lose, you're out of the tournament before half the people even realize it has begun).

You'd have to think the French schedulers will do what they can to see if they can grant Mladenovic an extra day of rest with a Tuesday start. And you know they will get a good show-court assignment, given the fact that Mladenovic is French, and Bouchard is the No. 6 seed.

Looking ahead

Given the uncertain form of both Bouchard and Pospisil, it's tempting fate to look too far ahead in the draw.

But here goes, anyway.

If Bouchard gets through her first round, she has a rather more palatable second-round match against either Danka Kovinic of Montenegro or Klara Koulakova of the Czech Republic. Her third-round seed, on paper, is No. 32 Zarina Diyas – which was the best possible outcome in terms of the fact that Diyas is the lowest seed Bouchard could have drawn. Diyas is also the player Bouchard defeated in Rome, snapping that six-match losing streak that was preying on the mind of player and fans alike.

Ahead? Possible big-hitting Karolina Pliskova or veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova. Bouchard's projected quarter-final opponent if everyone follows the script would be No. 4 seed Petra Kvitova.

But all that could be two weeks away. For now, there's little point in looking past Mladenovic.

As for Pospisil, who can't look past Sousa, his potential second-round opponent would be No. 3 seed Andy Murray.

As mentioned, no point in even going there.