Nearly four months removed from the Australian Open, the second Grand Slam of the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz season is finally upon us.
Following back-to-back WTA 1000s in Madrid and Rome, the Clay-Court Swing concludes on the iconic red clay of Roland Garros.
Coco Gauff returns to Paris as the defending champion, and she enters the French Open with momentum following a run to the final in Rome. But this is truly anybody's tournament. The champions in Madrid and Rome -- Marta Kostyuk and Elina Svitolina -- are both outside the Top 5 in the PIF WTA Rankings, a reminder that this is perhaps the deepest and most unpredictable field at Roland Garros in recent memory
Here's a full breakdown of the Roland Garros draw, including notable first-round matches and potential quarterfinal showdowns.Â
First Quarter
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka tops this section, which also includes Jessica Pegula and Victoria Mboko. Sabalenka made her first career French Open final last year, and was up a set on Gauff before letting it slip away. Although Sabalenka is still considered the favorite by many, she's coming off a lackluster couple of tournaments on clay, losing in the Madrid quarterfinals to Hailey Baptiste and the Round of 32 in Rome to Sorana Cirstea.
Also in this section is four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and 18-year-old Iva Jovic, who made the quarterfinals in Melbourne at the first major of the year. (She lost to Sabalenka in that match.) They're joined by former Australian Open champion Madison Keys, Diana Shnaider and Alexandra Eala.
First-round match we can't wait for
[17] Iva Jovic vs. Alexandra Eala: Eala was the breakout star of the tour in the first part of 2025, and Jovic's rise came a few months later. Since then she's moved past the Filipina and into the Top 20. This will be the first career meeting between the fan favorites, and perhaps the start of a rivalry that will bloom over the next decade (at least).
Potential quarterfinal showdown
[1] Aryna Sabalenka vs. [5] Jessica Pegula: Sabalenka holds a commanding 9-3 lead in the head-to-head, but these two have played some classics over the years, including Sabalenka's come-from-behind win over the American in the US Open semis last year.Â
Their last three matches have gone the distance, but Sabalenka has won all six of their sets on clay. Their most recent match on clay was in 2022, though.Â
Second Quarter
Gauff, the defending champion, tops this quarter. She brings an 8-3 clay record into this tournament and is rounding into Top 5 form. Her greatest obstacle to the quarterfinals, in terms of seeding, is countrywoman Amanda Anisimova, who hasn't played since Miami.
Top 15 seeds Ekaterina Alexandrova and Linda Noskova are certainly threats, though neither has ever made it to the quarterfinals in Paris. Zheng Qinwen and Maria Sakkari have, though. Lois Boisson, last year's surprise semifinalist, is also in this quarter.
First-round match we can't wait for
[4] Coco Gauff vs. Taylor Townsend: Gauff will surely be feeling the first-round jitters as the defending champion. And Townsend, the veteran, has a knack for rising to the occasion and pulling off notable upsets on big stages (see last year's US Open). They've only played once, way back in 2019, and it happened to be on clay. Townsend won that match, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1, over a 15-year-old Gauff in Charleston.
Potential quarterfinal showdown
[4] Coco Gauff vs. [6] Amanda Anisimova: Anisimova leads the narrow head-to-head 2-1, and that includes two matches before 2023. In their lone match on clay, in Parma in 2021, Gauff won 6-3, 6-3.
Third Quarter
Talk about a red-hot section. Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek, the best clay-court player of her generation and one of the best of all-time, is the top seed in this quarter. Though she's not the overwhelming favorite at Roland Garros, as she has been in past years, she comes in with confidence alongside new coach Francisco Roig, and after training at the Rafa Nadal Academy.
She's joined by the two most recent WTA 1000 champions on clay in Kostyuk and Svitolina. Svitolina's friend and fellow mom, Belinda Bencic, is also here, as is Clara Tauson and former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
First-round match we can't wait for
[1] Iga Swiatek vs. [WC] Emerson Jones: Brutal draw for the 17-year-old wild card, but can she pull off the stunning upset? Jones, making her main-draw debut at Roland Garros, has nothing to lose, so expect her to go for broke in this one.
In seven French Open appearances, Swiatek has never dropped a set in the first round.
Potential quarterfinal showdown
[3] Iga Swiatek vs. [7] Elina Svitolina: These two have been pretty evenly matched throughout their careers, with Swiatek leading the head-to-head 4-3. But Svitolina has won their last two matches, including last week's 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win in the Rome semifinals.
Swiatek beat Svitolina 6-1, 7-5 in the French Open quarterfinals last year.
Fourth Quarter
The final section of the draw is headlined by Elena Rybakina, the World No. 2 and the most recent Grand Slam champion. Rybakina won a title on clay in April, in Stuttgart, but didn't get past the quarterfinals in Madrid or Rome.
This quarter is deep. Andreeva, who reached the Madrid final, is the next-highest seed. Though she's not playing her best tennis right now, Jasmine Paolini is a former Rome champion and French Open finalist. Hailey Baptiste is playing the best tennis of her life after making the Madrid semifinals, which included an upset of Sabalenka. And soon-to-be-retired Cirstea, 36, is also at the top of her game after reaching the semis in Rome.
Other threats include former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, former French Open finalist Karolina Muchova and World No. 20 Liudmila Samsonova.
First-round match we can't wait for
[26] Hailey Baptiste vs. Barbora Krejcikova: Baptiste will be tested right away against the two-time Grand Slam champion. Though she's down to No. 42 in the rankings and has only won four main-draw matches this year, the 30-year-old is always dangerous at Roland Garros.
They've split their two career meetings. Their most recent, a straight-sets win for Baptiste in Wuhan in 2024, was the first Top 10 win of the American's career.
Potential quarterfinal showdown
[2] Elena Rybakina vs. [8] Mirra Andreeva: Rybakina and Andreeva have split their four career matches. Rybakina won their most recent meeting, on clay in Stuttgart, last month.