Draw set for French Open

PARIS — Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams could meet in the fourth round of the French Open, but a matchup between Sharapova — a two-time winner at the tournament — and three-time champion Williams is far from guaranteed.

Draws were announced Thursday for the event, which starts Sunday at Roland Garros.

Williams is ready to resume her comeback after maternity leave was followed by back-to-back losses in March. First up for the American star with an Open Era-record 23 Grand Slam titles is a match against 70th-ranked Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

This will be Williams’ first major tournament since giving birth to her daughter in September. She hasn’t played at a Grand Slam since winning the Australian Open in January 2017 while pregnant.

Ranked No. 453, Williams entered Roland Garros under the WTA’s protected ranking rule but has not been granted a seed by organizers. Without a seeding, Williams was drawn in the same quarter as Sharapova, who was seeded 28th.

While nobody really knows what to expect from Williams, Sharapova had a chance to fine-tune her clay-court game last week and made it to the Italian Open semifinals, losing a three-setter to top-ranked Simona Halep. Sharapova beat Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open, in Rome.

In the men’s draw, 10-time tournament champion and overwhelming favorite Rafael Nadal will open against Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Nadal comes to Paris at the end of another impressive clay-court season. He is 19-1 this year on his favorite surface, with his loss to Dominic Thiem in the Madrid Open quarterfinals this month. That ended a streak of 21 match wins and 50 set wins on clay.

Nadal is trying to become only the second player in tennis history to win 11 singles titles at any Grand Slam event. Margaret Court won the Australian Open 11 times.