De Minaur faces rising star Blockx at French Open, Svitolina downplays title talk

PARIS, May 26 : The French Open second round gets under way on Wednesday with a mouth-watering lineup featuring four-times champion Iga Swiatek and 24-times major winner Novak Djokovic.

Second seed Alexander Zverev will continue his quest for a maiden Grand Slam title, while Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini are also set to take centre stage at Roland Garros.

TOP MEN'S MATCH: DE MINAUR V BLOCKX

Australian eighth seed Alex De Minaur renews acquaintances with towering Belgian Alexander Blockx in a second-round clash that promises fireworks under the hot Paris sun.

The pair last met in the Monte Carlo Masters last month, where De Minaur managed to tame the big-serving qualifier who had just celebrated his 21st birthday.

But Blockx has been anything but quiet since that defeat, surging up the rankings to world number 37 heading into Roland Garros on the back of a stunning semi-final run in Madrid where he toppled four seeded players.

"He's one of the young talents. He's been playing some really good tennis," De Minaur told reporters.

"We had a battle in Monaco where before that he beat some quality players. He backed it up week after week. In Madrid and in Rome he had some really good tournaments playing some good tennis.

"He's a big kid, big serve, big forehand, dangerous player. Yeah, it's going to be a battle in this heat and my goal is going to be to make it physical, extend rallies ... We'll see who gets on top."

TOP WOMEN'S MATCH: SVITOLINA V QUEVEDO

Elina Svitolina was expected to cruise into the second round but the Ukrainian survived a major scare when the unheralded Anna Bondar forced her to a final set tiebreak.

Fresh from winning the Italian Open, Svitolina credited "mental toughness" for getting through the nail-biting