Defending champ Alcaraz and top seed Sinner in same half of Wimbledon draw
Alcaraz, who overcame Novak Djokovic in five sets in the Wimbledon final last year, defeated Sinner in the semi-finals at Roland Garros en route to the title earlier this month.
Agencies
Carlos Alcaraz takes part in a warm-up session at the All England Lawn Tennis Club
LONDON: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and top seed Jannik Sinner have landed in the same half of the Wimbledon draw, with the pair seeded to meet in the semi-finals.
Alcaraz, who overcame Novak Djokovic in five sets in the Wimbledon final last year, defeated Sinner in the semi-finals at Roland Garros en route to the title earlier this month. The 21-year-old Spaniard leads the 22-year-old Italian 5-4 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
Third seed Alcaraz is seeded to meet Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the fourth round and could play eighth seed Casper Ruud or Queen’s champion Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals. Alcaraz, who starts against Estonia qualifier Mark Lajal, is chasing his fourth major.
Seven-time champion Djokovic is the second seed and faces Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva in the first round.
Two-time champion Andy Murray will play Czech Tomas Machac in the first round on Tuesday, with ninth seed Alex de Minaur taking on Corentin Moutet in the first round. De Minaur is in the same quarter of the draw as Djokovic.
Nagal to face Kecmanovic of Serbia
India's top singles player Sumit Nagal is set to make his maiden appearance in the men's singles main draw of the Wimbledon and he will be up against higher-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in the first round here.
However, World No 72 Nagal has a tough road ahead as he is placed in the same section of the draw as top seed and World No 1 Jannik Sinner and could face the Italian in the third round if he makes it that far.
Even crossing the first hurdle will not be easy for Nagal as he is pitted against world No. 53 Kecmanovic. The Serbian had beaten Nagal in their lone match so far at the ATP 250 event in Cologne, Germany, four years ago.
Another Indian N Sriram Balaji, who will be Bopanna's doubles partner at Paris Olympics, and his British partner Luke Johnson will play fourth-seeded Croatian-Salvadorian combination of Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo, who won this year's French Open.
