Favourite Rafael Nadal To Take On Benoit Paire In French Open
Rafael Nadal is in the same half of the draw as Novak Djokovic, while the same applies for Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber.
Favourite Rafael Nadal will take on Benoit Paire in the first round of the French Open and Garbine Muguruza will start the defence of her title against the 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone.
Nadal, who will attempt to become the first player in the Open Era to win the same grand slam 10 times, has won both of his previous two matches against the 45-ranked Paire and will come up against the Frenchman for the first time in four years.
Fourth seed Nadal is in the bottom half of the draw along with reigning champion Novak Djokovic, who takes on Marcel Granollers in the opening round at Roland Garros.
World number one and top seed Andy Murray will be up against Russian outsider Andrey Kuznetsov and is in the same half of the draw as 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, who will come up against a qualifier in the first round.
Muguruza will begin the tournament against Schiavone, winner of the clay-court grand slam seven years ago, and is in the top half of the draw along with top seed Angelique Kerber.
Struggling world number one Kerber faces a potentially tricky first round match against Ekaterina Makarova.
Second seed Karolina Pliskova gets under way with a match against Zheng Saisai and is in the bottom half of the draw along with Simona Halep, provided the in-form third seed from Romania recovers from an ankle injury.
Halep will face Jana Cepelova if she is able to take part, while Petra Kvitova has been included in the draw just five months after suffering a serious hand injury when she was stabbed in her apartment.
Julia Boserup will be Kvitova's first opponent of the year after the two-time Wimbledon champion declared herself fit following the draw.