It may be worth keeping an eye on Argentina’s Solana Sierra in the coming days as she bids for her maiden main draw match-win at a Grand Slam after successfully navigating Roland Garros qualifying.

Sierra lost the only Grand Slam main draw match she has contested – to Tatjana Maria of Germany in the first round of the 2024 US Open – but is through to the women's singles main draw at Roland Garros after defeating Wang Xiyu in the final round of qualifying. She will face Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva. 

Sierra is a player who has progressed along the ITF player pathway, reaching No. 12 in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings and making the semi-finals of the US Open Junior Championships in September 2022.

During her US Open run, she was a member of the ITF/Grand Slam Player Development Programme (GSPDP) Touring Team. The Touring Team helps players from developing tennis nations play at a level of competition that would otherwise prove difficult. She is also a three-time recipient of financial assistance, totalling $75,000, through the ITF-operated GSPDP.

Now 20, Sierra regularly competes in Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge for Argentina and last season was one of the standout performers on the ITF World Tennis Tour, winning six singles titles. Last month, she lifted silverware at a WTA event – Antalya 125 – for the first time.

Elsewhere, there will be Lebanese representation in the main draw of a second successive Grand Slam after Benjamin Hassan negotiated qualifying. The 30-year-old overcame Japan's James Kent Trotter in the final round of qualifying. 

Hassan reaching the main draw at Roland Garros follows Hady Habib contesting the main draw at the Australian Open earlier this year. Habib and Hassan are the first two Lebanese players to compete at Grand Slams in the Open Era. 

There is clearly something about Roland Garros which brings out the best in Hassan. At the Paris 2024 Olympic Tennis Event, which was contested at Roland Garros, Hassan become the first Lebanese player to win an Olympic tennis match.