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A host of top players seek a fast start to their 2023 Roland Garros campaign Sunday as main draw play begins at the clay-court major. Top 10 stars Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev are in first-round action, while fast-rising American Ben Shelton makes his debut at the second Grand Slam of the season.

ATPTour.com previews some of the standout matches on the Day 1 schedule in Paris.

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[7] Andrey Rublev vs. Laslo Djere (SRB)

Having made his breakthrough into the ATP Masters 1000 winners’ circle at Monte-Carlo in April, has the time come for Rublev to make his mark on the major stage?

The 25-year-old is 12-3 for the season on clay, having also reached a championship match in Banja Luka. He is a seven-time quarter-finalist at Grand Slams, including twice at Roland Garros, and Rublev will bid to advance past the last eight at a major for the first time.

Jamie Murray and Michael Venus clinched their third tour-level trophy of the season together Saturday when they triumphed at the Gonet Geneva Open. In a tight final, the fourth seeds clawed past third seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 7-6(6), 7-6(3).

The British-New Zealand team rallied from a break down in the first set and held their nerve in both tie-breaks to earn their 22nd tour-level win of the season as a team after one hour and 57 minutes.

“We are feeling good. We are starting to make our moves,” Murray said. “We have both made adjustments and improvements in our games, which is helping the team. I think we have played a really good level in all the matches. We are really happy to win.”

[ATP APP]

Earlier this season, Murray and Venus captured crowns in Dallas and Banja Luka. They will head to Roland Garros ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury delivered a dominant championship-match performance Saturday at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon, where the American-British pairing downed Nicolas Mahut and Matwe Middelkoop 6-0, 6-3 at the clay-court ATP 250.

The top seeds converted four of five break points they earned to ease to a 60-minute triumph and lift the trophy on event debut in France. After racing through the first set, Ram and Salisbury held their nerve to clinch victory on a deciding deuce point at 5-3, 40/40 after Mahut and Middelkoop threatened a second-set comeback.

“I think we got better and better with each match this week, and this was definitely the best match we played against quality opponents, obviously," said Ram. "We played a great two sets of tennis, I thought it was awesome.”

[ATP APP]

Ram and Salisbury lifted four tour-level titles together in 2022, including the Nitto ATP Finals crown in Turin, but had reached only one semi-final on Tour this year prior to Lyon. They now own 10 tour-level trophies as a team, with their Lyon victory providing a big confidence boost before they head to Paris to compete as the second seeds at Roland Garros.

ATPTour.com looks at five Challenger Tour players to keep your eyes on during Roland Garros.

Luca Van Assche
The Frenchman is a three-time ATP Challenger Tour champion and notched his maiden tour-level victory at last month’s ATP 250 event in Estoril. Van Assche then defeated Stan Wawrinka in Banja Luka before taking a set off Novak Djokovic.

The #NextGenATP star will look to build upon his momentum to collect his first Grand Slam main draw victory against Marco Cecchinato, who reached the Roland Garros semi-finals in 2018.

Van Assche graduated to the Challenger Tour following a standout junior career. In 2021, he claimed the Roland Garros boys’ singles title. Having just turned 17 when he lifted the trophy, Van Assche became the fifth home favourite to triumph in the event since the start of the millennium, joining Paul-Henri Mathieu, Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils and Geoffrey Blancaneaux. One year ago, Frenchman Gabriel Debru joined them.

Alexander Shevchenko
At a career-high No. 84 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Shevchenko collected titles at the Tenerife and Madrid Challengers this year. In March, the 22-year-old went on a dream run at the Challenger 175 event in Phoenix, where he defeated Gael Monfils and Matteo Berrettini en route to a finalist finish.

Carlos Alcaraz’s historic rise on the ATP Tour has often put him under bright lights and on the biggest stages of the sport. Now the 20-year-old will face a new spotlight, being the top seed at a Grand Slam for the first time, at Roland Garros. While Alcaraz has made his breakthrough look easy, the Spaniard admitted that it has come with challenges.

The World No. 1 stated that being on the 'big stage' is something he needed to grow accustomed to.

“At the beginning when I played against the best [players], in the best stadiums, it was tough for me to get used to that and to stay calm,” Alcaraz said in his pre-tournament press conference. “But I learned from those moments. I remember against Rafa for my first time in Madrid, it was really, really tough. I can name a lot of matches that I didn't feel comfortable playing on that. 

“But as I said, I learned from that, and I always wanted to play in those stadiums, in those tournaments, and I tried to feel comfortable playing on that. Right now I feel great playing in the great stadiums.”

[ATP APP]

Is this the week Grigor Dimitrov ends his six-year wait for a tour-level title?

The Bulgarian defeated second seed Taylor Fritz 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(2) on Friday at the Gonet Geneva Open to snap an 11-match losing streak in tour-level semi-finals.

In an epic clash at the ATP 250 clay-court event, Dimitrov battled hard to earn his first Top 10 win of the season. The 32-year-old demonstrated great agility to hang in points, before he turned the tables with his dynamic shotmaking to advance after two hours and 52 minutes.

"It was a crazy match. I am very pleased with the way I fought and the fans were amazing today," Dimitrov said. "It feels great [to reach the final] but the job is not over. I don't take any matches lightly. I came here with a purpose and I intend to finish it up tomorrow."

Dimitrov is chasing his first tour-level title since 2017, when he triumphed at the Nitto ATP Finals. The Bulgarian, up four spots to No. 29 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, will meet Nicolas Jarry in the championship match.

Daniil Medvedev may be in the clay-court form of his life, but he is taking nothing for granted at Roland Garros.

The World No. 2 arrived in Paris for the second Grand Slam of the season fresh from lifting his maiden tour-level title on clay in Rome. Medvedev’s charge to his sixth ATP Masters 1000 crown was the latest demonstration of his development on a surface that he has long listed as his least favourite on the ATP Tour.

Now the owner of a 10-2 record on clay for the season, Medvedev has emerged as one of the pre-tournament favourites for Roland Garros despite never having previously advanced past the quarter-finals. The 27-year-old acknowledged the positive vibes from Rome still linger, but he is reluctant to get carried away as he prepares for his first-round match against a qualifier in the French capital.

“I don't want to put too much pressure on myself, in a way,” said Medvedev on Friday at his pre-tournament press conference. “But what happened in Rome was amazing, especially beating a lot of good players, you know: Zverev, Tsitsipas, Rune, Zapata Miralles, Ruusuvuori, who went three sets with Alcaraz in Madrid.

“That's an amazing feeling, and I for sure maybe have more expectation than I usually have in Roland Garros. But I know that it's also tricky and you have to kind of use this confidence, but not get cocky, because that's where the danger is. Sometimes you think, ‘Oh, well, I played so well, now it's going to be easy’. Then the first round you have problems. You can get angry and maybe lose the match.

Aslan Karatsev continued his impressive clay-court season on Friday when he qualified for Roland Garros.

The former World No. 14, who reached the semi-finals in Madrid as a qualifier, moved past American Nicolas Moreno De Alboran 6-4, 6-3 to reach the main draw. Karatsev has enjoyed Grand Slam success before, advancing to the semi-finals as a qualifier at the Australian Open in 2021.

#NextGenATP Italian Flavio Cobolli will make his main-draw debut at a Grand Slam after defeating Laurent Lokoli 7-5, 6-3. The 21-year-old, currently seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race, had fallen in qualifying in his past five appearances.

Swede Elias Ymer beat German Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-4 to reach the main draw. Ymer will making his third main-draw appearance in Paris, having competed in 2015 and 2018.

Argentine Genaro Alberto Olivieri advanced, clawing past Adrian Andreev 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, while Thiago Seyboth Wild downed Dominik Koepfer 6-1, 6-1. Olivieri will make his Grand Slam main draw debut. Seyboth Wild competed in the main draw at the US Open in 2020.

The ATP Tour’s finest head to Paris for the second Grand Slam of the season at Roland Garros, where the main-draw action takes place from 28 May-11 June.

Carlos Alcaraz arrives in the French capital as World No. 1, but Novak Djokovic (chasing a record 23rd major title), Daniil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas could both usurp the Spaniard by the end of the fortnight.

ATPTour.com looks ahead at some of the key storylines across the singles draw and doubles draw at the 2023 edition of the clay-court Grand Slam.

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1) Djokovic Eyes Record 23rd Grand Slam: Victory at January’s Australian Open drew Djokovic level with Rafael Nadal on 22 major singles titles and the Serbian has the chance to set a new record in his rival’s absence this fortnight in Paris. Djokovic has not won a title since his Melbourne triumph, but the 36-year-old is a two-time Roland Garros champion and enters this year’s draw with a 20-4 record for the season.

Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas enter Roland Garros with a chance to leave the clay-court major as the No. 1 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The battle for World No. 1 has been raging all season, and it does not appear that will change in Paris.

No. 1 Alcaraz, No. 2 Medvedev and No. 3 Djokovic control their own destiny on the French clay. If any of them lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires, the top spot will come with it on 12 June. But a bad day could see those dreams quickly go up in flames.

Round-By-Round Pepperstone ATP Rankings Points

Alcaraz, Djokovic and Tsitsipas are all in the same half of the draw, which could add even more pressure to blockbuster showdowns. Alcaraz could meet Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals and Djokovic in the semi-finals.

If Alcaraz claws through his half to reach the final, Medvedev must beat him with the trophy on the line to return to World No. 1 for the first time since September of last year. If the 20-year-old Spaniard reaches the final and faces anyone but Medvedev, he will remain No. 1.

Francisco Cerundolo reached his first tour-level final of the season on Friday at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon, where he defeated defending champion Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-0.

The Argentine was in control throughout the 73-minute clash. The fourth seed opened his shoulders to hit his explosive groundstrokes with power to improve to 2-1 in his ATP Head2Head series against Norrie, who beat Cerundolo en route to the Lyon title last year.

"I think I played one of the best matches of the season," Cerundolo said. "Yesterday I started not that well and finished really well and that gave me a lot of confidence and today I showed it. I am super happy because it was a tough match. Cam is a great player and I think I played amazingly and I am happy to be in the final."

[ATP APP]

The 24-year-old will play #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils or American Brandon Nakashima in the final on Saturday at the ATP 250.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos reached their first tour-level final of the season together on Friday at the Gonet Geneva Open, where they moved past top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 7-5.

The Spanish-Argentine pair won 83 per cent (30/36) of their first serve points and saved three break points when serving for the match at 6-5 in the second set to triumph after one hour and 32 minutes.

[ATP APP]

Granollers and Zeballos have won seven tour-level titles together, including four on clay. They will aim to win their eighth trophy on Saturday when they face fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus in the final.

At the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon, Nicolas Mahut and Matwe Middelkoop advanced to the final after receiving a walkover from Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul. The French-Dutch pair will play top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the title match.

Jamie Murray and Michael Venus reached their fourth tour-level final of the season on Thursday at the Gonet Geneva Open, where they moved past Simone Bolelli and Fabrice Martin 6-1, 3-6, 10-6.

The British-New Zealand tandem won 83 per cent (25/30) of their first-serve points to set a title match meeting against top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer or third seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

Murray and Venus, currently ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, have lifted tour-level trophies in Dallas and Banja Luka this season.

Ram/Salisbury Reach Lyon Final
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury moved to within one win of capturing their first title of the season together at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon. The top seeds defeated Nicolas Barrientos and Albano Olivetti 7-6(4), 6-3.

The American-British pair will face Nicolas Mahut and Matwe Middelkoop or Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in the title match. Doumbia and Reboul overcame Robin Haase and Philipp Oswald 6-0, 6-3 in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

Former Top 10 star Lucas Pouille will make his return to Grand Slam main draw action after successfully qualifying for Roland Garros.

The Frenchman, currently No. 670 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, rallied past Austrian Jurij Rodionov 1-6, 7-5, 6-0 on Thursday to earn his place in the main draw.

It is the first time Pouille has won three consecutive matches at any level since September 2021. The 29-year-old thrilled his home fans with a nearly flawless third set in which he broke his opponent’s serve three times and did not face a break point himself.

Two #NextGenATP players also advanced to the main draw. Nineteen-year-old Hamad Medjedovic rallied past Jesper De Jong 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 to qualify for a major on his first attempt. All three of his wins in qualifying came in three sets.

Eighteen-year-old Shang Juncheng defeated Renzo Olivo 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to improve to two-for-two in Grand Slam qualifying. Earlier this year, the Chinese teen earned his way into the Australian Open main draw and defeated Oscar Otte in the first round.

The Roland Garros draw has thrown up a host of intriguing first-round matchups as the ATP Tour’s finest seek a fast start at the 2023 edition of the clay-court Grand Slam.

With the action set to kick off on Sunday in Paris, ATPTour.com highlights five first-round matches to watch.

[ATP APP]

[10] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) vs. Fabio Fognini [ITA]
The 10th-seeded Auger-Aliassime faces one of the ATP Tour’s biggest entertainers first up in Paris. The 35-year-old Fognini, an eight-time tour-level titlist on clay and former Roland Garros quarter-finalist, will be a stern opening test for the Canadian, who won their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting in Rio de Janeiro in 2019.

Auger-Aliassime has struggled to find his best level on the European clay this year (he holds a 1-2 record) but is into the quarter-finals this week in Lyon. The former Top 10 star Fognini may have dropped to No. 130 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, but the Italian has made a habit of rising to the big occasion.

Could this be the week that Taylor Fritz breaks his clay-court trophy duck on the ATP Tour?

The 25-year-old sent out a statement to the rest of the field Thursday at the Gonet Geneva Open, where he raced past Ilya Ivashka 6-1, 6-2 with a blistering quarter-final performance at the clay-court ATP 250.

Fritz battled through a three-set test against Marcos Giron in his opening match in Geneva but had no such trouble brushing past the World No. 86 Ivashka in the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. Striking powerfully and with depth off both wings throughout, the second seed broke his opponent’s serve twice in each set and did not face a break point on his own delivery in the 51-minute encounter.

Fritz flies forwards ?

He takes the win 6-1, 6-2 against Ivashka ?
@genevaopen | #atpgva pic.twitter.com/MVkZC5UgTI

With his 29th tour-level victory of the season, Fritz advanced to his third tour-level clay-court semi-final of 2023. Having fallen in the final four in Monte-Carlo and Munich, the American will hope to maintain his level in Geneva as he chases his maiden ATP Tour championship match appearance on clay.

Defending champion Cameron Norrie maintained his impressive record at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon Thursday when he overcame sixth seed Sebastian Baez 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.

The Briton holds a 13-3 record at the ATP 250 clay-court event, having advanced to the final in 2021 before he lifted the trophy in 2022. The second seed produced a dominant performance in the third set against Baez to reach the semi-finals in Lyon for the fourth time.

“The second set he came back strong. He was winning the tougher games like I was in the first set. I tried to reset and came out with a lot of energy,” Norrie said. “I have won a lot of three-set matches this year, so I had a lot of confidence going into the decider and I thought it was a solid match.”

Norrie looked to dictate on the forehand and was aggressive on return in the decider, winning 55 per cent (6/11) of points on Baez’s first serve in the third set to advance after one hour and 53 minutes.

Norrie leads Baez 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, having defeated the Argentine in the quarter-finals in Lyon last year. Earlier this season, the World No. 14 captured his fifth tour-level title on clay in Rio de Janeiro. Norrie will next play Francisco Cerundolo.

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic have landed in the same half of the Roland Garros draw.

The Spaniard, who has captured three trophies on clay this season, could meet third seed Djokovic in the semi-finals, with 2021 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas drawn in the 20-year-old's quarter.

Alcaraz is making his third appearance at the clay-court Grand Slam, having advanced to the quarter-finals in 2022. The top seed will open against a qualifier and is seeded to play 14th seed Cameron Norrie in the fourth round. Fifth seed Tsitsipas, who is in the same section as Felix Auger-Aliassime, is a potential quarter-final opponent for Alcaraz.

Canadian Denis Shapovalov and Italian Lorenzo Musetti are also in a stacked top quarter of the draw. Shapovalov is a potential third-round opponent for Alcaraz, while Musetti, who pushed Djokovic to five sets in Paris in 2021, is in the same section as Norrie.

Two-time champion Djokovic, who is aiming to win a record 23rd Grand Slam title in Paris, will start against American Aleksandar Kovacevic. The Serbian is in the same section as Hubert Hurkacz, with seventh seed Andrey Rublev a possible quarter-final opponent. Rublev captured the Monte-Carlo title last month and faces Laslo Djere in the first round.

Shang Juncheng made history earlier this season when he was one of three Chinese men who competed in the main draw of the Australian Open. Now the 18-year-old is attempting to qualify for the Roland Garros main draw in hopes of once again joining his countrymen Wu Yibing and Zhang Zhizhen.

World No. 200 Shang is one win away from the main draw in Paris after defeating Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of qualifying. The lefty saved all six break points he faced Wednesday to down the Hungarian, who upset Carlos Alcaraz last week in Rome at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Shang was not the only teenager who advanced Wednesday. The 19-year-old Serbian Hamad Medjedovic ousted fourth seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Medjedovic has claimed two ATP Challenger Tour titles this season and is ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race. Shang, who reached the second round at Melbourne Park after coming through qualifying, is thirty-fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race.

Second seed Yannick Hanfmann maintained his strong clay-court form, overcoming Zdenek Kolar 6-2, 6-4. The German, who is at a career-high No. 64 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, won 69 per cent of his second-serve points compared to Kolar’s 43 per cent. The 31-year-old will next meet Elias Ymer, who ousted Marc Polmans 7-5, 6-3.

Taylor Fritz shook off a tricky start with a powerful finish on Wednesday at the Gonet Geneva Open, where the American rallied to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win against Marcos Giron in his opening match at the clay-court ATP 250.

Fritz prevailed in a hard-fought contest by delivering a dominant serving performance in the deciding set against his No. 74-ranked countryman. The second seed dropped just two points behind his delivery in the third set to claim victory in a match during which he also converted five of the 13 break points he earned.

Debut & Comeback ?

From a set down No.2️⃣ seed @Taylor_Fritz97 continues into the last 8 defeating Giron 4-6 6-2 6-3!@genevaopen | #atpgva pic.twitter.com/CZMaFJaIxT

The 25-year-old Fritz is now 8-1 against fellow Americans for the 2023 season. The Delray Beach champion is chasing his maiden ATP Tour title on clay on event debut this week in Geneva, where he will meet Ilya Ivashka in the quarter.finals.

Ivashka earlier came through a three-set battle of his own. The 29-year-old downed eighth seed Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year.