Thanasi Kokkinakis returns for French tilt

Thanasi Kokkinakis faces a tricky opener when he returns from injury along with four other Australian men in French Open qualifying.

The luckless 23-year-old has played just four tournaments this year as he battles a pectoral injury that spoiled a 2018 season kicked off with a win against Swiss legend Roger Federer in Miami.

Kokkinakis, who has based himself in Belgrade as he recovers from his latest injury setback, will play Czech 19th seed Lukas Rosol on Monday night (AEST).

He would need to grind out three wins on the red dirt in Paris to feature in the main draw from Sunday, which already includes seven Australian men.

Former world junior No.1 Jason Kubler will vie for a return to the top 100 when he begins his qualifying journey against Indian 24th seed Ramkumar Ramanathan, while Alex Bolt faces Spaniard Adrian Menendez Maceiras.

Marc Polmans will play Italian Gianluigi Quinzi, while James Duckworth has drawn sixth seed Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Wildcard recipient Alexei Popyrin joined countrymen Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, Matt Ebden, Jordan Thompson and Bernard Tomic in the men’s main draw last week.

De Minaur will be seeded for the first time at a French Open after cracking the world’s top 30, while Kyrgios threw away any chance of jumping into the seedings thanks to his default in Rome.

Ashleigh Barty, Ajla Tomljanovic, Daria Gavrilova, former finalist Samantha Stosur and the in-form Astra Sharma will fly the flag in the women’s draw, while Kimberly Birrell and Arina Rodionova will attempt to join them when qualifying begins on Tuesday.

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