The road to the main draw at the year’s second Grand Slam begins this week in Paris, France, as French Open qualifying gets underway at Stade Roland Garros. Running from Monday, May 18 through Friday, May 22, the five-day ‘Opening Week’ features 128 men and 128 women battling through three rounds of single-elimination play for the final 16 spots in each main draw.

From former UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and USD standouts to rising talents from Thousand Oaks and Woodland Hills, five Team SoCal players are aiming to punch their ticket into the main draw at Roland Garros.

Emilio Nava

If there is a SoCal player tailor-made for the “terre battue,” it’s Emilio Nava. The 24 year old from Woodland Hills returns to Paris with strong memories from last season, looking to recapture the magic of a breakthrough year. In 2025, Nava bypassed the qualifying rounds entirely by winning the USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, a feat fueled by a remarkable 19-match winning streak. He made the most of the opportunity, recording his first career Grand Slam main draw win and earning a dream primetime match on the legendary Court Philippe-Chatrier in the second round.

Nava arrives back in France this year having already proven he can compete with the best at the ATP level. In February, he made history in Chile by becoming the first American quarterfinalist in the history of the Santiago ATP 250. He also became the first American man to reach a tour-level quarter-final on South American clay since Rajeev Ram in 2017 in Quito.

Nava followed that with a quarterfinal run at the Sao Paulo ATP Challenger 100 in March and a strong third-round showing at the Madrid Masters 1000 in late April. While his 2025 run was defined by a relentless winning streak, his 2026 results show a player increasingly comfortable on the sport’s biggest stages. With his aggressive style and heavy serve, Nava remains a dangerous presence and one of the favorites to navigate the qualifying draw as the No. 3 seed. His first opponent will be Yunchaokete Bu of China.

August Holmgren

Former San Diego Toreros standout August Holmgren enters the Paris qualifying draw for the second time in his career. The 28 year old Dane—who finished his collegiate career as an NCAA finalist and ITA No. 1 at USD—enters this week with renewed confidence after reaching the second round of qualifying here last year.

While much of Holmgren’s success has come on hard courts, he has shown he can handle the grind of Grand Slam qualifying. Last summer, he delivered a breakout run at Wimbledon, battling through three rounds to earn his first major main draw appearance. His final qualifying match lasted 3 hours and 36 minutes, going five sets with three tiebreaks, before he ultimately secured his spot in the main draw. He then went on to reach the third round in his Grand Slam debut.

Holmgren recently reached the final of the Gwangju ATP Challenger 75 in Korea on hard courts and added a semifinal finish at the Francavilla ATP Challenger 75 earlier this month, his only clay event leading into Paris qualifying.

Holmgren opens qualifying against fellow Scandinavian Otto Virtanen of Finland, the tournament’s No. 16 seed, in a challenging first round matchup.

Nicolas Moreno De Alboran

Nicolas Moreno De Alboran is back for his fourth attempt at the Paris qualifying rounds, continuing a steady rise on the ATP Tour. The former UCSB Gauchos and two-time Big West Player of the Year made his Grand Slam main draw debut at Roland Garros in 2024 after earning the USTA reciprocal wild card.

Now 28, the Spanish-American arrives with proven ability on clay, but his journey has been defined by extreme resilience. During last year’s qualifying week, Moreno De Alboran opened with a win over former Top 10 player Fabio Fognini while working back from a torn calf. That setback followed a harrowing health scare in late 2023, when a severe bout of dengue fever nearly led to a medically induced coma. Every step onto the court in Paris is a hard-earned milestone.

First up, he will take on Andrea Pellegrino of Italy.

Mackenzie McDonald

Roland Garros veteran Mackenzie ‘Mackie’ McDonald re-enters a familiar setting as he makes his eighth appearance at the clay-court major. This year marks his first trip through qualifying since 2021, a season in which he successfully advanced to the second round of the main draw.

The former UCLA Bruin and NCAA champion had his strongest Parisian showing in 2022, pushing through to the third round. That run highlighted his versatility and comfort within clay’s longer, more demanding exchanges. Now navigating the draw in a different position than in recent years, McDonald brings a blend of familiarity, resilience, and proven Grand Slam pedigree.

The No. 18 seed will face 21 year old Juan Carlos Prado Angelo from Bolivia in the first round of qualifying.

Claire Liu

Thousand Oaks native Claire Liu stands as the lone representative in the women’s qualifying draw, bringing both a history of success at the event and strong recent form into Paris. A former Junior World No. 1 and 2017 Roland Garros junior finalist, Liu is aiming to recapture that same level of comfort on the red clay.

Liu has been trending upward on the surface, capped by a W75 Trnava title in Slovakia just this week. She came through a tightly contested final featuring three tiebreaks to secure her ninth professional title and her first since 2024. That breakthrough, paired with a semifinal showing at the W35 Boca Raton event in April, underscores a clear upward trend as her game continues to adapt well to the slower courts and extended rallies of the European swing.

Liu will take on Brazil’s Laura Pigossi in the first round of qualifying.