By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, May 23, 2019
Reigning Roland Garros champion Simona Halep has contested three French Open finals.
Photo credit: Getty
Simona Halep rode a comeback crescendo to her first Grand Slam title in Paris last June.
The reigning Roland Garros champion can chart another resonant run this month.
Watch: Top 5 RG Men's Dark Horses
The Roland Garros draw was conducted today in Paris and presents intriguing red-clay routes for several Grand Slam champions and capable contenders.
View the Roland Garros women’s draw here.
Here's our Top 5 Takeaways from the women's draw.
1. Halep Has Room To Move
Simona Halep faces the pressure of defending her first Grand Slam—and 2,000 ranking points—but should be primed for another deep run.
Halep who heads the second quarter of the draw, opens vs. Ajla Tomljanovic with 27th-seeded Lesia Tsurenko looming as her first potential seeded opponent.
If the seeds hold true to form the third-ranked Romanian would face two-time Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova in the quarterfinals. Halep has won three of their four meetings, including a three-set triumph at the 2014 Madrid, which was their lone clay encounter.
The player who emerges from this second quarter could face a current or former No. 1—Naomi Osaka or Serena Williams—in the semifinals.
Oddsmakers have installed Halep as the favorite to successfully defend her title at 9 to 2 odds followed by Madrid champion Kiki Bertens, top-seeded Osaka and second-seeded Karolina Pliskova.
2. Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams Could Collide Again
The world No. 1 and the world’s most dangerous player—when healthy—reside in the same top quarter of the draw.
Australian Open champion Osaka is playing to retain her world No. 1 ranking—and become the first woman to sweep three straight Slams since her tennis idol, Serena, did it back in 2015.
The 37-year-old Williams continues her quest to capture her 24th Grand Slam title and equal Margaret Court’s all-time singles record.
It won’t be easy for either.
Osaka opens against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova then will play the winner of the blockbuster battle between two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
The 10th-seeded Serena will play Russian Vitalia Diatchenko in her first-round match. Williams has been battling a left knee injury that’s limited her to just one clay-court match this season.
Still, she’s reached the Roland Garros final in three of her last five appearances and has contested Grand Slam finals in two of her last three majors.
Miami champion Ash Barty, Indian Wells champion Bianca Andreescu, 2018 Roland Garros semifinalist Madison Keys and 29th-seeded Maria Sakkari are all capable contenders in this top quarter of the draw.
3. Who Will Win Race For No. 1?
Naomi Osaka achieved her goal of playing Paris as the world No. 1.
The explosive Japanese will try to fend off the charge of four women—No. Karolina Pliskova, No. 4 Kiki Bertens, No. 5 Angelique Kerber and No. 6 Petra Kvitova—to retain the top spot. Halep, who is defending 2,000 ranking points, does not have a shot to end the fortnight at the top.
Though Osaka has yet to surpass the third round in Paris, she's shown sharper clay skills this spring despite battling a strained abdominal issue and a right hand injury.
Osaka's mission is simple: Reach the final and retain No. 1.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Kerber plays to complete the career Grand Slam. The sturdy German opens against Russian Anastasia Potapova.
Bertens beat Halep to win her biggest title in Madrid. A 2016 Roland Garros semifinalist, the Dutchwoman is defending just 130 points in Paris but could be challenged in her opener against Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier, who beat Bertens in their last meeting.
The WTA Insider breaks down each women's potential path to the top here.
While Sloane Stephens can't rise to No. 1 in Paris, the seventh seed is playing her first major working with new coach Sven Groeneveld and could go deep again after her 2018 runner-up finish.
4. First-Round Matches To Watch
No. 11 Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) vs. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
Aggressive baseliners driven to play grip-and-rip drives could make for an intriguing shoot-out. The 21-year-old Belarusian, who failed to win a set in Madrid or Rome, is bidding for her first French Open win in her second appearance.
The first round has been last call for Cibulkova recently. The 2009 French Open semifinalist has failed to survive the opening round in six of eight tournaments this year; she’s lost in the opening round in three of her last five major appearances.
Venus Williams (USA) vs. (9) Elina Svitolina (UKR)
Continuing her quest for a 50th career title, Williams will likely need to serve bigger than she did in Rome to stop Svitolina, who is a sniper on return.
The talented Ukrainian counter-puncher has contested the quarterfinals twice in her last four French Open appareances. They’ve split two meetings with Williams winning their lone clay-court clash at the 2015 Rome. This is a stylistic clash pitting Williams' power and shotmaking against Svitolina's counter-strikes and flair for finding angles.
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) vs. Jelena Ostapenko (UKR)
A clash of unseeded Grand Slam champions who can both drill drives down the line.
Two years removed from her inspired run to her first career title at the 2017 Roland Garros, Ostapenko is trying to regain the confidence she showed along with the audacious shot-making that carried her to the title.
It's been four years since Azarenka won a French Open match, but the 2013 semifinalist partnered Ash Barty to win the Rome doubles crown and has been moving forward in the court more frequently.
5. Dark Horses
The bottom half of the draw is home to several talented dark horses, including 15th-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic, 19-year-old Czech lefty Marketa Vondrousova, who beat Halep and Daria Kasatkina back-to-back in Rome and two-time former French Open quarterfinalist Carla Suárez Navarro, who knows her way around clay.