Andy Murray has been included in the entry list for next month’s French Open but Emma Raducanu, fresh from her success in Great Britain’s qualification for the Billie Jean King Cup finals, may yet need a wild card for Roland Garrros.
The 36-year-old Murray has been struggling with injury since he was forced to withdraw from last year’s French Open and he ruptured ankle ligaments at the Miami Open last month. But the former Wimbledon champion is listed at 56 in the 99 players named with five weeks to go before the qualifying rounds begin.
Raducanu endured a torrid last eight months of 2023 but the former US Open champion has a protected ranking of 103 and is the fifth alternate. Without players dropping out, the 21-year-old would need a wildcard or to come through qualifying for the tournament which starts on 26 May.
In Munich, Jack Draper made the most of a rain delay to defeat wild card Rudolf Molleker and reach the quarter-finals of the BMW Open. Molleker, ranked 179th, had been the better player in the first set but a brief stoppage ahead of the second set changed the momentum of the contest.
Draper began to assert his powerful game after the resumption and lost only two more games, pulling away to claim a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory.
In the last eight the British No 2, who is ranked 46th, will take on either third seed Taylor Fritz or Spanish qualifier Alejandro Moro Canas.
Draper said: “I think Rudy played an amazing level in the first set. The conditions were very rainy and very slow. In the second and third, the sun comes out and I start feeling better. I’m really proud of the way I played.”
Source: theguardian.com
