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By Chris Oddo | Friday May 5, 2017

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard had the harshest of opinions on Maria Sharapova’s return to tennis a few weeks ago, when she said that the felt that cheaters of the Russian’s ilk should not be allowed back into the game.

More: Radwanska Withdraws from Madrid, Rome with Foot Injury

Now she could get the chance to knock the five-time major champion out of the Madrid draw. The pair are slated for a second-round matchup in Madrid, but to make that happen Bouchard will have to snap a six-match tour-level losing streak when she faces France’s Alizé Cornet in the first round. The pair have split four previous meetings.

Sharapova, a wild card in Madrid, also has a tough opener. The Russian will face No.17-seeded Mirjana Lucic Baroni in her first match. The Croatian, a semifinalist at this year’s Australian Open, owns a 17-8 record on the season. She lost her only previous meeting against Sharapova at the 2011 French Open in straight sets.

Top-seeded Angelique Kerber is also in this quarter of the draw. The German will hope to get her season on track with a good performance in Madrid but she too has a tricky first-round opponent in Hungary’s Timea Babos.


Other enticing first-rounders at the 64-player draw are No.6-seeded Johanna Konta vs. Germany’s Laura Siegemund (title winner at Stuttgart last week), No.3-seeded Simona Halep vs. Kristyna Pliskova (finalist at Prague this week) and Lucie Safarova vs. No.15-seeded Barbora Strycova.

Main draw play begins on Saturday.

See all four quarters of the Madrid draw embedded in our tweet below:

 

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