LONDON (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz will begin his bid for a third consecutive Wimbledon championship and put his career-best 18-match winning streak on the line by facing the volatile Fabio Fognini in the first round at Centre Court when the tournament begins Monday.
The singles brackets for the grass-court Grand Slam tournament were set in Friday’s draw, including potential men’s quarterfinals of No. 1 Jannik Sinner against No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 4 Jack Draper against No. 6 Novak Djokovic — who has won seven of his 24 major trophies at the All England Club — No. 2 Alcaraz against No. 8 Holger Rune, and No. 3 Alexander Zverev against No. 5 Taylor Fritz.
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The possible women’s quarterfinals are No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 6 Madison Keys, and No. 4 Jasmine Paolini vs. No. 5 Zheng Qinwen in the top half, and No. 2 Coco Gauff vs. No. 8 Iga Swiatek or 2022 champion Elena Rybakina, and No. 3 Jessica Pegula vs. No. 7 Mirra Andreeva in the bottom half.
In addition to Sinner, Djokovic, Draper and 2024 semifinalist Musetti, the top half has No. 10 Ben Shelton and No. 13 Tommy Paul of the United States, along with Alexander Bublik, an unpredictable and underarm-serving player from Kazakhstan. He reached his first major quarterfinal at the French Open by defeating Draper — his potential third-round opponent next week — and then won a grass-court title at Halle, Germany, for the second time, beating Sinner along the way.
Alcaraz and Sinner could only meet at Wimbledon in the July 13 final, which would be rematch of their epic showdown for the French Open title won by the 22-year-old Alcaraz for his fifth major trophy.
In Fognini, Alcaraz faces a 38-year-old veteran who has been ranked as high as No. 9 and was a French Open quarterfinalist in 2011 but is currently No. 130 and never has been past the third round in 14 previous appearances at Wimbledon.
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Fognini, who is married to 2015 U.S. Open champion Flavia Pennetta, has described himself as a hot-head and is known for mid-match flareups, including at Wimbledon, where he was fined $3,000 in 2019 for saying he wished “a bomb would explode at the club” during a third-round loss and a then-record $27,500 in 2014 for a series of outbursts during a first-round victory. He was put on a two-year probation by the Grand Slam Board in 2017 after insulting a female chair umpire at the U.S. Open and getting kicked out of that tournament.
Gauff, coming off her second major title at the French Open, will open Wimbledon on Tuesday against Dayana Yastremska, a 2024 Australian Open semifinalist.
Win that, and Gauff might face former No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka in the second round, while a rematch with No. 28 seed Sofia Kenin could await in the third. Kenin eliminated Gauff in the opening round at Wimbledon two years ago.
Sabalenka, the runner-up to Gauff at Roland-Garros three weeks ago, finds herself in an intriguing quarter of the women’s bracket. Sabalenka, who owns three Slam titles, begins against Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine, and could meet 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Lulu Sun in the second round and 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu or 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the third.
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Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova begins Tuesday’s Centre Court schedule against Alexandra Eala, who is the first woman representing the Philippines to be ranked inside the top 100 and upset Swiatek on the way to reaching the Miami Open semifinals in March.
In their section of the draw, 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who announced she will retire later this year, takes on No. 10 Emma Navarro in the first round.
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
