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Dana Mathewson, David Wagner to compete at historic French Open wheelchair event

Victoria Chiesa | May 30, 2022

Two Americans will compete at a historic French Open wheelchair tennis event this week. Dana Mathewson and David Wagner have qualified directly for the year's second Grand Slam, which will feature expanded fields in the men's, women's and quad draws for the first time. 

Twelve players will compete in both the men’s and women’s singles, up from eight players in 2021, and eight players will compete in the quad singles, up from four players last year. The US Open was the first of the four Grand Slams to offer an expansion in its draws, with eight players competing in the quad singles in Queens last summer. Former world No. 1 Wagner comes into the tournament ranked world No. 4, while Mathewson is ranked a career-high world No. 7. 

 

Both players are unseeded in their respective singles draws. Wagner faces Brazil's Ymanitu Silva for the third time this year in the opening round; after winning his first 10 career matches against Silva, Wagner lost to him twice earlier this month at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Portugal.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

In the women's draw, Mathewson opens against Chile's Macarena Cabrillana with the winner to face No. 3 seed Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands. Both Americans are also in their respective doubles draws; Wagner and Great Britain's Andy Lapthorne, seeded No. 2, open against Silva and Australia's Heath Davidson, while Mathewson and her British partner Lucy Shuker face Japan's Momoko Ohtani and China's Zhu Zhenzhen.

 

Mathewson and Wagner each come into the French Open in form after success last week at the Annecy International Open, a Series 1 event on the ITF UNIQLO Wheelchair Tour. Wagner won the quad singles title, his third this year and first on clay, while Mathewson and Shuker were the doubles runners-up. Wagner is bidding to win the quad doubles title for a fourth time in four editions of the event, having also been the quad singles runner-up in 2019. Mathewson was the first American woman to play in the French Open wheelchair event 12 months ago, where she lost her first match in each event. 

 

Mathewson is the first of the two players who'll take to the Roland Garros courts; she and Cabrillana will play their match on Tuesday.

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