HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer
PARIS (AP) — Here are five things to look for Tuesday at the French Open:
WOZNIACKI’S TURN: So Rory McIlroy won a golf tournament just days after announcing that his engagement to tennis player Caroline Wozniacki was off. How will Wozniacki fare in her return to action? The 13th-seeded Wozniacki, who used to be ranked No. 1 and was the 2009 U.S. Open runner-up, is scheduled to face 64th-ranked Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in the first round on Court 2 at Roland Garros.
MURRAY STARTS: In his first match at Roland Garros in two years, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray faces 53rd-ranked Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan. Murray’s best French Open came in 2011, when he made it to the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. A year later, Murray got to the quarterfinals. But in 2013, he sat out the clay court major tournament with a back injury. Still working his way back to top form after minor back surgery last September, Murray has called his play this season “very patchy” and he is seeded No. 7, his lowest at a Grand Slam tournament since 2008.
CAN LI AVOID A LETDOWN?: The women’s champion at the Australian Open, Li Na, will try to avoid the sort of quick exit that happened to the men’s champ in Melbourne, Stan Wawrinka, who lost in the first round in Paris on Monday. The No. 2-seeded Li is to meet 103rd-ranked Kristina Mladenovic of France in Tuesday’s opening match on Court Suzanne Lenglen. January’s triumph was Li’s second Grand Slam title. Her first came at the 2011 French Open. And what happened at her next two major tournaments that time? A second-round loss at Wimbledon, followed by a first-round loss at the U.S. Open.
LATE 30s, EARLY 40s: A couple of, um, rather experienced players are scheduled to play their first-round matches Tuesday. In the women’s draw, 43-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan will become the third-oldest player in French Open singles history; Martina Navratilova was 47 in 2004. Date-Krumm, who faces 24th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, made her main-draw debut at Roland Garros in 1989 — before more than half of this year’s women’s field was even born. At 36, Tommy Haas is young by comparison. But if Haas beats Jurgen Zopp of Estonia, the 16th-seeded German will become the oldest man to reach the second round of the French Open since Jimmy Connors in 1991.
WAITING ON THE RAIN: After showers delayed and interrupted play Monday, more rain is forecast for Tuesday. Among the players whose matches were postponed entirely Monday: 15th-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States, now slated to face Peng Shuai of China on Tuesday, and 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who plays Sofia Shapatava of Georgia. Stephens reached the fourth round in Paris a year ago, but she’s only 11-11 on tour in 2014.
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