Auger-Aliassime looks to translate clay-court form into elusive Roland Garros success

PARIS — Top-ranked Canadian player Félix Auger-Aliassime isn’t exactly cursed at the French Open.

But he is still seeking his first career main-draw match win in Paris.

The 21-year-old has crisscrossed Europe the last six weeks trying to find his clay-court form. Now that he has arrived in Paris, here’s hoping the fifth time is the charm.

It’s not as though Auger-Aliassime can’t play on clay.

His first ATP Tour final, a 500-level event in Rio de Janeiro when he was just 18, was on the surface. He has several Challenger clay-court titles and, back in 2016, he reached the French Open boys’ singles final.

But for all his deep runs at the other three Grand Slam tournaments, it has yet to happen at Roland Garros.

“Twice I lost in the first round, as has happened in other tournaments. In those, I was able to win that first match and things unlocked, so it’s nothing about this particular tournament,” Auger-Aliassime said Friday.

He’ll play his first-round match against qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru on Sunday, as the French Open begins a day earlier than the other majors.

The Canadian found himself draw into the “quarter of death” that contains both defending champion Novak Djokovic and 13-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal.

If both can get there, Nadal would be Auger-Aliassime’s fourth-round opponent.

At 26, Varillas is five years older than Auger-Aliassime. But the South American clay-courter, whose career-high ranking of No. 104 came a few weeks ago, will be playing in his first career French Open main draw.

The two have met before.

A few weeks before that junior French Open final, 15-year-old Auger-Aliassime (then No. 712 in the ATP Tour rankings) met 21-year-old Varillas (then ranked No. 665) in the