Errani heads women’s qualifying draw at Roland-Garros; no Wozniacki, Raducanu, Halep

The women’s singles qualifying draw for Roland-Garros was made on Sunday and it is notable as much for who is not there, as for who is.

While Italy’s Sara Errani, the runner-up in 2014, heads the seedings, former world No 1s Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep, and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu are not in the draw.

Clay has never been Wozniacki’s favourite surface and the Dane, who returned to the Tour last summer after three ways, has been battling a calf injury of late. The 33-year-old, ranked 119, has also been on holiday recently, so it seems she’s saving herself for grass and then her favourite hard courts later this year.

Former Roland-Garros champion Halep, who returned to the Tour in March after winning an appeal to reduce a ban for a failed drugs test, pulled out of a tournament in Romania last week.

And Raducanu pulled out of the qualifying event and later on Sunday it was confirmed she would miss the main draw too, even if she was just three places away from earning a spot in the main draw.

“It’s important for me to keep laying on the foundations and I will use the time to do a healthy block before the grass and subsequent hard court seasons to give myself a chance to keep fit for the rest of the year,” Raducanu said, in a statement given by her team.

Errani begins against Ann Li of the United States while other players in action include Brenda and Linda Fruhvirtova, Ekaterina Makarova, Alycia Parks and Mona Barthel.

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