Wilander Gets Easy Start in French Open

Defending men’s champion Mats Wilander of Sweden should have an easy time in the first two rounds of the French Open tennis championships.

In today’s draw, he was chosen to meet a qualifier in the first round. If he wins, his second-round opponent will be the winner of another match between two qualifiers.

Wilander, the No. 4 seed, won three Grand Slam titles in 1988 and vaulted into the No. 1 ranking in the world. Since then, however, he has been off form and dropped to No. 4 in the rankings.

His opponents will be determined Sunday following the completion of the qualifying tournament for the final 16 spots.

Top seed Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia will meet West German Davis Cup player Patrick Kuhnen in the first round.

No. 2 seed Boris Becker, who led West Germany to the Davis Cup title, faces American Jim Pugh in the first round.

Third-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden drew Czechoslovakia’s Marian Vajda for his first match, while fifth-seeded Andre Agassi of the United States will play another Swede, Johan Carlsson.

On the women’s side, defending champion Steffi Graf of West Germany, seeking her sixth straight Grand Slam title, is the top seed and Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina is seeded second. Both should reach the final easily since Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert are skipping the tournament.

Graf drew American Camille Benjamin in the first round, while Sabatini got Japan’s Akemi Nishiya.