Teenage tennis star Emerson Jones has been handed the dream, nothing-to-lose Roland Garros draw against a fearsome opponent as she has to tackle four-time champion Iga Swiatek on her Roland Garros main-draw debut.
As Alex de Minaur, Australia's top hope in Paris, contemplated a potentially gentle route into the men's tournament with a first-round clash against a qualifier, 17-year-old wildcard Jones landed arguably the most difficult draw of all against the reigning Wimbledon champion on her favourite surface.
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Jones, the former world No.1 junior, has so far been handed only glamour draws in her fledgling Grand Slam career, but also hugely difficult ones, losing to sixth seed Elena Rybakina at Australian Open 2025 and to Canadian 16th seed Victoria Mboko at Melbourne Park this year.
The other Aussie women didn't get much luck either in Thursday's draw at Roland Garros, with national No.1 Maya Joint, on the comeback trail, having to tackle a tough opener against 28th seed Anastasia Potapova, who's already reached one claycourt final this year in Linz.
Kimberly Birrell must tackle American No.5 seed Jessica Pegula, while Ajla Tomljanovic is up against American Caty McNally, and Talia Gibson faces feisty Kazakh Yulia Putintseva.
World No.62 Daria Kasatkina, a quarterfinalist this week in Strasbourg, drew Zeynep Sonmez, who's just become the highest-ranked Turkish woman player in history at No.59.
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A Roland Garros semifinalist in 2022, Kasatkina could meet Aryna Sabalenka should she get to the third round.
De Minaur, who continued his recent revival by crushing Italian Luciano Darderi 6-0 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the Hamburg Open on Thursday, won't have a comfortable route, even if he does face a qualifier first up.
He could face rising Belgian star Alexander Blockx in the last-64, with a potential third-round date with Czech youngster Jakub Mensik, the 26th seed, to follow. If he negotiates those hurdles, he'd more than likely be tackling 11th seed Andrey Rublev in the fourth round before either two-time finalist Casper Ruud or three-time champion Novak Djokovic in the quarters.
Alexei Popyrin is on course to run into Daniil Medvedev in the second round if the Russian No.6 seed can get past another Aussie, wildcard Adam Walton, in his opener.
Walton upstaged Medvedev in their first meeting at last year's Cincinnati Masters and will be hoping for a repeat result against the former world No.1, who's fallen in the first round in Paris in two of the past three years.
Thanasi Kokkinakis' return to Grand Slam action after battling back from his latest shoulder injury sees him have to face local hope Terence Atmane.
Djokovic, who like de Minaur will be relieved to know he can't meet rampaging world No.1 Jannik Sinner until the final, opens with an even bigger French blockbuster against huge-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Main-draw action begins Sunday 24 May, with Aussies James Duckworth -- who opens against Canada's Gabriel Diallo -- and Tomljanovic scheduled to compete on Day 1.
Aussies at Roland Garros
MEN'S SINGLES - first round
[8] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Qualifier
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) v Zachary Svajda (USA)
[WC] Adam Walton (AUS) v [6] Daniil Medvedev
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) v Raphael Collignon (BEL)
James Duckworth (AUS) v Gabriel Diallo (CAN)
Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) v Terence Atmane (FRA)
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) v [24] Tommy Paul (USA)
WOMEN'S SINGLES - first round
Maya Joint (AUS) v [28] Anastasia Potapova (AUT)
Daria Kasatkina (AUS) v Zeynep Sonmez (TUR)
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) v Caty McNally (USA)
Kimberly Birrell (AUS) v [5] Jessica Pegula (USA)
[WC] Emerson Jones (AUS) v [3] Iga Swiatek (POL)
Talia Gibson (AUS) v Yulia Putintseva (KAZ)
Roland Garros will be broadcast in Australia on the Nine Network and Stan Sport.