Reigning US Open champion Marin Cilic will take part in the latest stage of his recover and journey back to full health when he begins his campaign a the 2015 French Open. Cilic, who spent much of the first quarter of the year on the sidelines, will begin his quest in Paris against Robin Haase, whom he has faced previously on four different occasions. He remains undefeated against Haase with a 4-0 head-to-head record.

Following a long layoff due to a right shoulder injury, reigning Marin Cilic began his 2015 season this week in Indian Wells, where he suffered a premature exit to Juan Monaco in the opening match in the desert. From then on, he was able to gradually lift his gameplay but is yet to find his top form. He won back-to-back matches the following week in Monte Carlo, which included a win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. However, he has only won two matches on the tour since then, both of which came against rising stars on the tour (Jiri Vesely in Madrid and Rublev most recently in Geneva). Yet his early losses and lack of consistency make it unlikely that Cilic will perform at his best in Paris.

Cilic will come up against Robin Haase, who reverted to playing Challengers events over the past few weeks. Following a quarter-final loss to Nick Kyrgios in Estoril, Haase won the Aix En Provence Challenger tournament before losing to Thiemo de Bakker in the second round of the Bordeaux Challenger.

This is set to be the fifth time that Cilic and Haase will cross paths on the professional tour, with Cilic leading the series with an unblemished 4-0 record. Of those four wins lie two clay court contests, which should add to Cilic’s chances of escaping this contest relatively unscathed. Since this is their first meeting in nearly four years, it will be interesting to see what the final scoreline will be.