French Open 2015 wildcards announced

The French Tennis Federation has named eight wildcards apiece for the 2015 French Open men's and women's singles main draw.

Two tennis players from the United States and an Australian duo on Thursday earned their lucky call alongside a dozen French players, reports Xinhua.

"Thanks to an agreement with the Australian and American Tennis Federations, a wildcard is allocated in the men's and women's draws to a player from each of these countries," read a press release of Roland Garros.

The men's and women's singles draw will each feature 128 players, as 104 male and 108 female players, including world No.21 Peng Shuai and other three Chinese women, have been given direct acceptance into the main draw last month.

In additional, the FFT also announced nine wildcards for the men's singles qualifying and eight for the women's category.

The 2015 French Open, the second Grand Slam of the year, starts here with qualifications on May 19. The total prize money will be 28,028,600 euros, three million more than that of last year.

The eighth wildcard in the women's singles category will be allocated later to an Australian.

Following are the wildcards named for the main draw (France unless stated):

Men's singles: Quentin Halys, Maxime Hamou, Thanasi Kokkinakis, (Australia), Nicolas Mahut, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Lucas Pouille, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Frances Tiafoe (United States).

Women's singles: Louisa Chirico (United States), Oceane Dodin, Fiona Ferro, Amandine Hesse, Mathilde Johansson, Alize Lim, Virginie Razzano.