Jacob Fearnley will take on former champion Stan Wawrinka in the first round of the French Open tennis championship which starts in Paris on Sunday.
It will be the 23-year-old’s first appearance in the premier clay court event.
It is 10 years since Wawrinka won the title by beating Novak Djokovic in four sets and having slipped to 139 in the world – Fearnley ranks No 54 – has had to rely on a wild card for entry to the main draw.
At 40-years-of age Wawrinka is also the oldest man in the tournament and with matches being played over best of five sets that is another reason to fancy the 23-year-old Worcester-born, Edinburgh-reared Fearnley over his Swiss opponent.
Should he win, then ex-Colinton junior Fearnley would take on either the 22nd seed Ugo Humbert of France or Chris O’Connell (Australia).
While Fearnley has continued to climb the rankings claiming a top 20 scalp along the way and consistently defeating lower ranked players Wawrinka has had a difficult season so far but did reach the final of the Aix-en-Provence ATP Challenger 175 event earlier this month losing to Borna Coric in three tight sets. That pushed Wawrinka back into the top 150.
