The 2017 Roland Garros draw ceremony will begin on Friday at 12 noon local time (11 a.m. BST).

Novak Djokovic, who completed the career Grand Slam with his first Roland Garros title in 2016 (d. Murray), is the second seed. The Serbian, who has a 12-9 record in Grand Slam championship finals, also finished runner-up on Parisian clay in 2012, 2014 (l. to Nadal both times) and 2015 (l. to Wawrinka). Djokovic is seeking his first tour-level title since lifting the Qatar ExxonMobil Open crown (d. Murray) in January.

Last year, Andy Murray became the first Briton to reach the Roland Garros final since Henry Austin in 1937, on the back of a title run at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (d. Djokovic). The World No. 1, reunited this week with Ivan Lendl, has a 16-7 match record in 2017, including the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy (d. Verdasco).

Rafael Nadal, a winner of 10 titles at both the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, plus a fifth title at the Mutua Madrid Open in 2017, seeks ‘La Decima’ at Roland Garros, where he has an incredible 72-2 record. Last year, he withdrew ahead of his third-round match due to a left wrist injury.

Stan Wawrinka, currently competing in Geneva where he is the defending champion, is 18-8 on the year, but will be hoping to evoke memories of his 2015 Roland Garros title run and 2016 semi-final finish. The Swiss was runner-up to compatriot Roger Federer at the BNP Paribas Open in March.

Kei Nishikori competes at Roland Garros for the seventh time hoping to better his 2015 quarter-final run (l. to Tsonga in five sets).

#NextGenATP’s Stefanos Tsitsipas is one of eight players who qualified for the main draw of Roland Garros with final-round qualifying wins on Thursday. Among those also reaching their first Grand Slam main draw are Nicolas Jarry and Stefano Napolitano.

Tsitsipas encountered few problems moving past Oscar Otte of Germany 6-3, 6-2. The 18-year-old Greek player has never played the main draw of a Grand Slam before. He showed promise on clay by reaching back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour finals on the surface last October in Morocco.

Nicolas Jarry had never won a round at a Grand Slam prior to this week, but the Chilean is through to the main draw after defeating #NextGenATP American Reilly Opelka 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3. The 21 year old has reached two Challenger finals this year.

Stefano Napolitano was also winless in Grand Slams before his dream run this week, taking out #NextGenATP player Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2. The 21-year-old Italian won his maiden Challenger last November on home soil in Ortisei.

The remaining final-round qualifying round winners on Thursday were all established veterans. The winners were ninth seed Santiago Giraldo, 13^th seed Guido Pella, 21^st seed Sergiy Stakhovsky, Teymuraz Gabashvili and Simone Bolelli.

All eight remaining final-round qualifying matches will be contested on Friday, with former Top 15 player Paul-Henri Mathieu and #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev among those in action.

Second seed Kei Nishikori withstood a stern challenge from Kevin Anderson on Thursday at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open, surviving three match points to reach the semi-finals 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(6).

“There haven’t been too many times that I’m down match point and win, so it’s great for me,” said Nishikori. “He had more chances, but I served a little bit better in the end. It’s important to win some matches like this.” 

The Japanese star rallied from 2/4 in the final set tie-break and earned a match point at 6/5 with a backhand passing shot winner. Anderson erased it with a forehand winner, but Nishikori responded with a forehand return winner in the next point. The second seed hit another winner off that wing at 7/6 to wrap up the match after two hours and 29 minutes.

Nishikori improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Anderson to 4-1 and reaches his first ATP World Tour semi-final on clay this season. He’s seeking his first title since winning Memphis in February 2016 (d. Fritz).

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He’ll next play qualifier Mischa Zverev, who continued his run through the draw by defeating fifth seed Steve Johnson 6-4, 7-5. Zverev won all 14 of his first serve points in the opening set and 81 per cent in the match. The German moves into his maiden ATP World Tour semi-final of the season and first since last October in Basel.

“It’s my first [ATP World Tour] semi-final on clay, so I can be very happy with that,” said Zverev. “It took six or seven tournaments on clay, but now I’m finally finding my game on this surface.”

Top seed Stan Wawrinka was down a set and an early break to an in-form Sam Querrey, but delighted the home crowd by fighting back to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Wawrinka improves to 4-3 on clay this season and is through to his maiden ATP World Tour semi-final on the red dirt this year. He defeated Marin Cilic in last year’s final for his first title on home soil. The Swiss star also boosts his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Querrey to 5-1.

Awaiting Wawrinka in the semi-finals is Andrey Kuznetsov, who prevailed against lucky loser Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. Kuznetsov moves into his second ATP World Tour semi-final of the season after also reaching the final four this January in Sydney. He is even with Wawrinka in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry at 1-1 and won their most recent match in March 2016 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami. 

DOUBLES

Both doubles quarter-finals on Thursday didn’t make it to court due to withdrawals. Scott Lipsky and Leander Paes advanced past Rogerio Dutra Silva and Paolo Lorenzi due to a right ankle injury sustained by Dutra Silva. Lipsky/Paes will face top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau on Friday.

Wild cards Johan Nikles and Tim Puetz moved past third seeds Treat Huey and Robert Lindstedt after Lindstedt pulled out with a groin injury. Nikles/Puetz also received a walkover in their opening round. They will take on second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah for a place in the final.