Not only is the No.1 ranking on the line for Iga Swiatek, but she will face stern tests as she embarks on her Roland Garros title defense.
No.13 seed Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 champion who has defeated Swiatek in their two previous meetings, is her projected fourth-round opponent. No.4 Elena Rybakina, who has got the better of Swiatek on three occasions this year, has been drawn into the same half and could await in the semifinals.
No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka and No.3 Jessica Pegula lead the bottom half of the draw, opening up against Marta Kostyuk and Danielle Collins, respectively.
Full draw | Roland Garros 411 | Iga Swiatek’s No.1 ranking on the line | Martina Navratilova’s takeNo.1 seed Swiatek opens her campaign for a third title in Paris against Spain’s Cristina Bucsa, against whom she dropped only one game in the third round of the Australian Open in January. However, the road gets progressively tougher from there. She could face No.13 Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round. The Czech, who won the title here in 2021, defeated Swiatek in their last two meetings, in the 2022 Ostrava final and 2023 Dubai final. In their only clay-court meeting, Krejcikova held match points before falling in the 2021 Rome third round.
Former World No.1 and No.18 seed Victoria Azarenka opens up against 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu. The winner could be Krejcikova’s third-round opponent.Swiatek’s projected quarterfinal opponent is No.6 seed Coco Gauff, in what would be a rematch of last year’s final. Gauff starts against Rebeka Masarova, whom she defeated 6-1, 6-1 in this year’s Auckland final to claim her third career title. Lurking in Gauff’s section are two players who have been resurgent on clay in recent weeks. Rome finalist Anhelina Kalinina, the No.25 seed, is her projected third-round opponent, while No.11 seed Veronika Kudermetova, a back-to-back semifinalist in Madrid and Rome, could await in the last 16.
First rounds to watch: [18] Victoria Azarenka vs. Bianca Andreescu; Lesia Tsurenko vs. [13] Barbora KrejcikovaNo.4 seed Rybakina comes into Paris as an all-court threat. She built on her Wimbledon title last year to win WTA 1000 trophies on both hard courts (Indian Wells) and clay (Rome), while also reaching the Australian Open and Miami finals.
Roland Garros was in fact Rybakina’s first breakthrough on the Grand Slam stage. She defeated Serena Williams in the 2021 fourth round — in what would be the 23-time major champion’s last French Open match — to make her first quarterfinal at this level. This year, Rybakina opens against a qualifier, with No.14 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia her projected fourth-round opponent.
Danger to Rybakina could come as early as the second round. This time last year, Czech teenager Linda Noskova made an eye-catching debut as a qualifier, stretching Emma Raducanu all the way in a three-set thriller in her first ever tour-level match. The big-hitting Noskova, 18, has gone on to establish herself in the Top 50 and opens against Danka Kovinic.
