16 U.S. Women, 11 Men in French Open qualifying

A total of 27 Americans (16 women, 11 men) are bidding for main-draw spots at the French Open, the second Grand Slam of the season, in next week's qualifying tournament.

The top-seeded American in either draw is women's No. 6 qualifying seed Caty McNally, who's fresh off her fourth career WTA doubles title in Parma, Italy alongside Coco Gauff. The former junior finalist will face Liang En-shou of Chinese Taipei in her first match, with an all-American opener between Asia Muhammad and Whitney Osuigwe awaiting the winner. The top half of the qualifying draw features nine U.S. women in all, including the in-form Claire Liu, seeded No. 20.

Liu, April's Team USA Player of the Month, is riding a nine-match winning streak on clay this spring after consecutive titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour at the $60,000 and $100,000 events in Charlottesville and Charleston, respectively. The 20-year-old opens against Canada's Rebecca Marino in the second qualifier which is anchored by No. 2 seed Aliona Bolsova of Spain, who reached the fourth round in Paris back in 2019. Hailey Baptiste also fell in this section and opens against Tereza Smitkova in the first round. 

Also in this half is Robin Anderson, Sachia Vickery, Varvara Lepchenko and Usue Maitane Arconada. Notably, Vickery will face No. 5 qualifying seed Sara Errani, a former French Open finalist and world No. 5, in her first match.

Kristie Ahn (No. 15) is the lone American seeded in the bottom half and will take part in another all-American affair against CoCo Vandeweghe, as the latter competes in Paris for the first time since 2018. Francesca di Lorenzo, Caroline Dolehide, Louisa Chirico, Danielle Lao and Grace Min will all bid to qualify out of this half, with Chirco notably playing her first match in nearly two full years. The former world No. 58 is entered with a protected ranking after having been sidelined with a shoulder injury.

On the men's side, eight Americans are in the bottom half of the draw, led by No. 9 qualifying seed Mackenzie McDonald and No. 10 Denis Kudla. McDonald has nonetheless been handed one of the toughest first-round draws against talented Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis, himself in the midst of a return from injury and recently a champion at the ATP Challenger event in Biella, Italy on clay. 

The American contingent in this half boasts an intriguing mix of young players and veterans, including Liu's April POTM counterpart Jenson Brooksby, who went a perfect 10-0 on the USTA Pro Circuit in Florida last month. Also present are Maxime Cressy, Ernesto Escobedo, Bjorn Fratangelo, Mitchell Krueger and Michael Mmoh.

In the top half, 19-year-old Brandon Nakashima is seeded No. 24, and could face a final round match against No. 2 seed Daniel Galan should both advance. Unseeded here are Christopher Eubanks and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, as both bid for their first main-draw berth in Paris.

Qualifying in Paris begins on Monday. Click here for the full French Open qualifying draws.