LEARNING
No.4 seed Kiki Bertens has already played rising 21-year-old Viktoria Kuzmova twice in 2019, splitting wins with both matches going the distance. In the second round of Dubai, Kuzmova saved a match point to notch up her first Top 10 scalp 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(6); Bertens got her revenge 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 in the third round of Miami.
Ukrainian No.1 Elina Svitolina takes on Ukrainian No.4 Kateryna Kozlova today. Svitolina has never fallen to a compatriot in a WTA-level match in four previous encounters; indeed, her last loss to a fellow Ukrainian was in October 2012, when Olga Savchuk defeated her 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in the second round of the Nantes ITF W50 event. Svitolina has been playing Kozlova since the pair's junior days, and has won every time: twice at junior level in 2008 and 2009, and twice at ITF level in 2012 and 2013. The last time they met was at home in Donetsk in 2013, when Svitolina won their ITF W75 quarterfinal 6-4, 6-2.
No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova has defeated Kristina Kucova on each of three previous occasions - but all those matches went to three sets. The pair played in back-to-back years in the ITF clay event in Zlin, with Pliskova winning 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) in 2008 qualifying and 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the 2009 first round; six years later, the Czech would also win their only WTA-level meeting 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of Tianjin 2015.
No.31 seed Petra Martic and Kristina Mladenovic will reprise the second-longest match of 2019 so far, an epic quarterfinal in Istanbul last month which Martic won 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(2) in three hours and 17 minutes, going on to win her maiden title. That was the Croat's second consecutive three-set defeat of 2017 quarterfinalist Mladenovic following her 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win in the first round of Miami 2018; in their only other encounter, the Frenchwoman progressed past the second round of Québec City 2013 when Martic retired trailing 6-3, 2-3.
The only all-teenage second-round clash at Roland Garros pairs 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova, who has reached at least the quarterfinals of her last five tournaments, and 18-year-old Anastasia Potapova, the first-round conqueror of Angelique Kerber. They have played twice before, with Vondrousova winning both times - 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of US Open juniors in 2015, and 6-0, 6-2 in the Budapest semifinals this February.
No.15 seed Belinda Bencic has lost to Laura Siegemund both times she has faced the German before - albeit both matches were played when Bencic was 16 years old in two 2013 ITF events, with Siegemund winning 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2 in Jackson qualifying and 6-2, 6-4 in the Lenzerheide semifinals.
Two former Roland Garros quarterfinalists, No.28 seed Carla Suárez Navarro and Shelby Rogers, clash in the second round - five years after they met for the first time at the same stage here. Suárez Navarro, who made the last eight in Paris in 2008 and 2014, won that match 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 - but in their only other encounter, Rogers (a 2016 quarterfinalist here) triumphed 6-4, 6-0 en route to her maiden final in Bad Gastein in 2014.
Last year's runner-up Sloane Stephens faces Sara Sorribes Tormo for the second time this clay season; in their only prior meeting, the American won 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in the second round of Charleston in April.
16-year-old wildcard Diane Parry became the youngest player to win a round at Roland Garros since Michelle Larcher de Brito in 2009 with her first-round win over Vera Lapko. An upset of No.20 seed Elise Mertens in the second round would mean that Parry would take over from Marta Kostyuk as the youngest active player to reach the third round of a major.
TRENDING
ORDER OF PLAY
For full order of play, visit rolandgarros.com.
READING
Andreescu completes Bouzkova comeback in French Open debut
Azarenka overcomes former champ Ostapenko in Paris opener
