PARIS, France - Defending champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic will open their title defense at Roland Garros later this week in the same position that they won it a year ago: as the No.2 seeds.
The Hungarian and Frenchwoman anchor the bottom of the French Open women's doubles draw, released in full on Sunday, as they again bid for a second Grand Slam title in 2020.
The pair will open their bid at a second straight title on the terre battue against Anna Kalinskaya and Yulia Putintseva, and could face No.15 seeds Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok and No.5 seeds Jelena Ostapenko and Gabriela Dabrowski to get out of their quarter in the bottom half.
No.4 seeds, and 2018 champions, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova are the projected semifinal foes for Babos and Mladenovic, as the Czech pair looks for another deep run after losing in the opening round last year.
Topping the draw are the dominant duo of Barbora Strycova and Hsieh Su-wei, who are bidding for a fifth title of the season, and enter Paris on a 12-match winning streak that dates back to the Australian Open final in January.
The pairing reunited at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia to win their first title of the restart without the loss of a set, adding to the back-to-back titles they won in Dubai and Doha in February.
American Maria Sanchez and Australian Astra Sharma will be the first-round foes for the top seeds, who have Strasbourg finalists Hayley Carter and Luisa Stefani and semifinalists Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama as seeded teams in their quarter.
No.3 seeds Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka loom as possible semifinal foes for Hsieh and Strycova, with No.6 seeds Demi Schuurs and Kveta Peschke, and surprise US Open winners Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva - seeded No.12 as a result of their exploits in New York - also in the top half.
Seeded for the first time at a Grand Slam are the American teenage pairing of Coco Gauff and Caty McNally, who round out the seedings at No.16.
The Americans will face the wildcard team of Aubane Droguet and Sandra Janicijevic in the opening round, and could be the third round foe for Mertens and Sabalenka.
Click here to view the entire French Open women's doubles draw.
