Paris : Former winner and second seed Roger Federer and women’s champion Maria Sharapova take top billing as they target places in the French Open fourth round.
Federer, the 2009 Paris champion, bids to record his 64th match-win at Roland Garros when he faces Damir Dzumhur, the only male player from Bosnia/Herzegovina to contest a major.
Dzumhur, the 23-year-old world number 88, is one of only two players –- men or women -– from Bosnia to feature at a Grand Slam.
Mervana Jugic-Salkic is the only woman from the country to play a major — losing in the first round at Roland Garros in 2004 and 2005 and at Wimbledon in 2004.
By reaching the third round for the first time, Dzumhur has equalled his best Grand Slam result. He also reached the third round on his Australian Open debut in 2014 where he lost to Tomas Berdych. Former junior Roland Garros champions Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils are also both in action.
Swiss eighth seed Wawrinka will face American Steve Johnson while Monfils will meet Pablo Cuevas, who is looking to become the first Uruguayan man in 16 years to reach the round of 16 at a major.
There is plenty of interest for home fans with Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Benoit Paire and Nicolas Mahut also all on court on Friday. Sharapova, who was also champion at Roland Garros in 2012 and runner-up in 2013, faces 2010 runner-up Samantha Stosur of Australia for a last-16 place.
Stosur and Sharapova met in the fourth round a year ago, with the Russian prevailing in three sets.
Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, the 29th seed, gets proceedings on Court Philippe Chatrier underway by facing Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni who knocked out third seed Simona Halep in the second round.
