TVC E. World number three Stan Wawrinka will hope to carry his good form on clay into the French Open second round on Thursday against Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov – a player who holds a winning record against him.
Champion in Paris in 2015, third seed Wawrinka claimed his maiden title of the year in Geneva last week and has now won his last seven matches on the surface.
The Swiss player’s claycourt season before Geneva had been far from spectacular, having failed to get further than the second round in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome.
Wawrinka has never lost to a player ranked outside the top 50 at the French Open, but Dolgopolov, ranked 89th, has beaten him twice compared to one win for the Swiss.
The 32-year-old Ukrainian, a former top-20 player, claimed his third tour title of his career when he won in Buenos Aires in February, on clay.
But he has since failed to win more than two matches in any tournament.
