Grand slam tennis is back and Australian Jordan Thompson has a huge opportunity to get off to a good start at the French Open in a first round meeting with qualifier Laslo Djere. Join The Roar for live scores from around 10:30pm (AEST).
Update: This match has been delayed due to rain on Day 1 of the French Open. It is now scheduled to take place at 8:30pm Monday (AEST).
One of five Aussies in the men’s singles draw, Jordan Thompson has battled his way through to earn a wildcard and make his French Open debut.
Ranked No.92 in the world, Thompson has never made it past the first round at a grand slam with the 22-year-old having made three grand slam appearances all of which have come at the Australian Open in the past three years.
The Sydney-born product won the An-Ning Challenger late last month with a straight sets win over Mathias Bourgue in the final.
It was his second challenger title for 2016 having also taken out Cherbourg earlier in the year.
Thompson has now won 7 of his last 10 matches following unsuccessful tournaments in Rome and Bordeaux in the lead-up to Roland Garros however, his win on clay will prove crucial as he attempts to ease past opponent Laslo Djere.
Like Thompson, Djere has never been to a French Open before with this tournament his first ever gand slam appearance.
Djere had a decent run at Roland Garros in the 2013 boys singles tournament however, the third seed tumbled out to eventual winner Christian Garin in the third round in what was a three-set dogfight.
The 20-year old Serbian has made his way into the men’s singles main draw in the qualifying stage after defeating Marco Chiudinelli, Nicolas Kicker and Adam Pavlasek to earn entry into the second grand slam tournament of the year.
The pair have met only once before with a semi-final meeting at the Croatia F8 Futures in 2014 seeing Djere come out on top in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
The winner will face off against either 27th seed Ivo Karlovic or Spaniard Albert Montanes in the second round.
Prediction
Jordan Thompson will cruise through the the second round with the Australian to win in four sets.
Thompson in four sets.
Join The Roar for live scores from around 10:30pm (AEST) following the completion of Nicole Gibbs and Heather Watson.
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