
Olympic champion Zheng to face Siniakova first at Wimbledon
London, June 27 (UNI) China's Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen will start this year's Wimbledon Championships campaign with first-round opponent Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic as
the main draw was revealed here on Friday.
Zheng, 22, reached the third round in her first appearance at Wimbledon, but failed to pass the opening round in the last two years.
As the fifth seed in the women's singles main draw, Zheng will meet Siniakova on Monday. Siniakova, with 10 women's doubles Grand Slam titles in her pocket, reached the third round in the women's singles event at Wimbledon three times.
She entered the Berlin Open through qualifiers last week, but lost to former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the round of last 16.
Zheng reached her first career grass-court semifinal at the Queen's Club Championships earlier this month, but withdrew from the Berlin Open due to a neck injury.
Zheng's compatriot Wang Xinyu, who reached the Berlin Open final by beating newly-crowned French Open champion Coco Gauff, will face 15th seeded Czech Karolina Muchova in the first round.
The 23-year-old Wang stunned American ace Jessica Pegula in the second round at last year's Wimbledon before reaching the fourth round for the first time.
Meanwhile, the world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus will play against Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine.
Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova will face Filipino rookie Alexandra Eala.
In the men's singles main draw, the world No. 1 Jannik Sinner is going to lock horns with his Italian compatriot Luca Nardi, while defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will meet Italian veteran Fabio Fognini in the first round.
UNI/XINHUA BM
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