French Open 2018: Monday Schedule and Predictions for Roland Garros Bracket

The 2018 French Open begins in earnest on Monday as some of the world's top players take to the clay at Roland Garros in search of Grand Slam glory.

There are plenty of big names in action, and the top draw on Monday will be defending champion Rafael Nadal, who starts off against lucky loser Simone Bolelli. Nadal had been drawn against Alexandr Dolgopolov, but the Ukrainian was forced to pull out because of injury.

Dominic Thiem is a contender for Nadal's crown, and he's also in action on Monday against Belarus' Ilya Ivashka. The home fans will have plenty to cheer as France's Richard Gasquet and Benoit Paire both play on Monday. Former champion Stan Wawrinka will also feature against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

The women's draw should provide plenty of excitement as No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki opens up her campaign against Danielle Collins. Petra Kvitova takes on Veronica Cepede Royg, and Maria Sharapova is in action against Richel Hogenkamp.

Monday's fixtures get underway at 10 a.m. BST (5 a.m. ET); here's a look at all the matches and a prediction for each.

Monday's French Open Fixtures (Predicted Winner)

[8] Petra Kvitova vs. Veronica Cepede Royg (Kvitova)

Rogerio Dutra Silva vs. [20] Novak Djokovic (Djokovic)

Danielle Collins vs. [2] Caroline Wozniacki (Wozniacki)

[1] Rafael Nadal vs. Simone Bolelli (Nadal)

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. [23] Stan Wawrinka (Wawrinka)

Andrea Petkovic vs. [29] Kristina Mladenovic (Mladenovic)

Andreas Seppi vs. [27] Richard Gasquet (Gasquet)

[28] Maria Sharapova vs. Richel Hogenkamp (Sharapova)

Benoit Paire vs. Roberto Carballes Baena (Paire)

[7] Dominic Thiem vs. Ilya Ivashka (Thiem)

Laura Siegemund vs. [15] CoCo Vandeweghe (Vandeweghe)

Barbora Krejcikova vs. [6] Karolina Pliskova (Pliskova)

Sofia Kenin vs. [21] Naomi Osaka (Osaka)

[13] Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Denis Istomin (Bautista Agut)

[11] Diego Schwartzman vs. Calvin Hemery (Schwartzman)

Heather Watson vs. Oceane Dodin (Watson)

Caroline Dolehide vs. Viktorija Golubic (Golubic)

Rebecca Peterson vs. Su-Wei Hsieh (Su-Wei Hsieh)

Mirza Basic vs. Adam Pavlasek (Basic)

Camila Giorgi vs. Grace Min (Giorgi)

Jiri Vesely vs. Dusan Lajovic (Lajovic)

Ana Konjuh vs. [23] Carla Suarez Navarro (Suarez Navarro)

Peter Gojowczyk vs. Cameron Norrie (Gojowczyk)

Borna Coric [22] Philipp Kohlschreiber (Kohlschreiber)

Varvara Lepchenko vs. [16] Elise Mertens (Mertens)

Jordan Thompson vs Casper Ruud (Thompson)

 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Carlos Taberner (Tsitsipas)

Frances Tiafoe vs. [13] Sam Querrey (Querrey)

[19] Magdalena Rybarikova vs. Luksika Kumkhum (Rybarikova)

Lucie Safarova vs. Jessika Ponchet (Safarova)

Ernests Gulbis vs. [29] Gilles Muller (Muller)

Marcos Baghdatis vs. Santiago Giraldo (Baghdatis)

Belinda Bencic vs. Deborah Chiesa (Bencic)

Bernarda Pera vs. Elena Vesnina (Vesnina)

Lucky Loser (TBC) vs. Bernard Tomic (Tomic)

[14] Daria Kasatkina vs. Kaia Kanepi (Kasatkin)

Tatjana Maria vs. Kirsten Flipkens (Maria)

Horacio Zeballos vs. Yuichi Sugita (Zeballos)

Karen Khachanov vs. Andreas Haider-Maurer (Khachanov)

[31] Mihaela Buzarnescu vs. Vania King (Buzarnescu)

[31] Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. Mikhail Kukushkin (Ramos-Vinolas)

Kateryna Bondarenko vs. Donna Vekic (Vekic)

Lara Arruabarrena vs. Timea Babos (Babos)

Jaume Munar vs. David Ferrer (Ferrer)

Lesia Tsurenko vs. Stefanie Voegele (Tsurenko)

Joao Sousa vs. Guido Pella (Sousa)

Mandy Minella vs. Maria Sakkari (Sakkari)

[20] Anastasija Sevastova vs. Mariana Duque-Marino (Sevastova)

Malek Jaziri vs. Mikhail Youzhny (Jaziri)

 Marco Cecchinato vs. Marius Copil (Cecchinato)

Dalila Jakupovic vs. Georgina Garcia Perez (Jakupovic)

Matthew Ebden vs. Thomas Fabbiano (Ebden)

Katerina Siniakova vs. Victoria Azarenka (Azarenka)

[13] Madison Keys vs. Sachia Vickery (Keys)

Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. Gilles Simon (Simon)

[9] John Isner vs. Noah Rubin (Isner)

The full French Open 2018 schedule is available from the Roland Garros website.

Monday Preview

Nadal is bidding for his 11th French Open crown in Paris and goes into the tournament in good form, having won the 2018 Monte Carlo Masters and the Italian Open.

He has said he's looking forward to his first match:

The defending champion will be expected to cruise past Bolelli, who is ranked 130 in the world and has lost all five of his previous meetings with the Spaniard.

Nadal has been utterly dominant on clay but suffered his first defeat in a year on the surface at the Madrid Masters when he was beaten by Thiem.

The Austrian warmed up for the tournament with victory at the Lyon Open, where he beat Gilles Simon in three sets.

Thiem faces Ivashka on Monday, who has a world ranking of 119. The Belarusian will be making his debut in the main draw at the French Open after successfully coming through qualifying.

Gregorio Borgia/Associated Press

Former French Open winner Novak Djokovic also plays on Monday as he takes on Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva. Djokovic is the 20th seed, and Nadal gave a revealing answer when asked if the former champion was getting back to his best form, per Kevin Mitchell at the Guardian.

"My answer is he's not coming back; he's there always," he said. "Sometimes when you come back from injuries [it] is difficult to play that well from the beginning. But he played a great event in Rome and is no doubt one of the candidates to win here."

The women's draw should also provide excitement on Monday, particularly after Sunday's action saw defending champion Jelena Ostapenko, seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams and Great Britain's Johanna Konta all knocked out.

Second-seeded Wozniacki takes on Collins, which should make for an interesting match, as explained by Ben Rothenberg at the New York Times:

Kvitova also looks a real contender after working her way back into the world's top 10 following a knife attack in her home in 2016 that left her with injuries to her hand.

The Czech Republic star has explained why she returned to the sport, per Roland Garros:

Kvitova is in good form and should win on Monday, as should Sharapova, who won the French Open in 2012.

The Russian has been building momentum ahead of the tournament. She made it to the quarter-finals in Madrid and the semi-finals of the Italian Open, and she knows exactly what it takes to win at Roland Garros.