French Open 2021: Women's preview
Swiatek on the double
Polish teenager, 19, is favourite to retain her title, with Barty as her strongest rival
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Poland's Iga Swiatek on the way to thrashing the Czech Republic's former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in the Italian Open final in Rome earlier this month. Her preparations for the French Open have been ideal, as she has now won two of the three biggest events on clay.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS • Iga Swiatek has been marked as the favourite to add a second French Open title, but the teenager's title defence is likely to face a strong challenge from world No. 1 and top seed Ashleigh Barty.
The Pole became the youngest woman to win the title since Monica Seles in 1992 and the first to do so without dropping a set since Justine Henin in 2007, losing just 28 games during the event.
Her preparations for this year's clay-court Major, which starts tomorrow, has been ideal as she captured the WTA 1000 title in Rome this month - thrashing former top-ranked Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in the final - and has now won two of the three biggest events on clay.
"The way she plays, very much a clay-court player with power. Even though she's only 19 years old, she still is the favourite," Eurosport Swedish pundit Mats Wilander told Reuters. "That's a new situation for us.
"In tennis, men or women, we haven't had that for a long, long time where a teenager, after they won the first one, is still the favourite to win the second one, even though she's only 19. So that's very exciting."
But Swiatek's biggest challenge is likely to come from Barty, who handed the world No. 9's last defeat on clay at the WTA 1000 event in Madrid.
The Australian elected not to defend her 2019 French Open title last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but she is returning to where she won her sole Grand Slam and remains the bookmakers' second favourite for Paris.
There is a slight doubt over Barty's fitness, after she withdrew from the quarter-finals in Rome with a muscle strain in her serving arm earlier this month.
But, with 2018 French Open champion Simona Halep absent due to a calf tear, pundits cannot see any other challengers other than the pair.
"Besides Swiatek, I think Ash Barty can win the title. I'm not sure if there's anybody else that can win the title," said Wilander, who won three of his seven Grand Slam singles trophies in Paris.
"Barty, even on a very bad day, finds a way to win matches. But if Swiatek plays her best tennis, there's only two or three players that can beat her and I don't think Barty's one of them.
"But I do think there could be a big-hitter that can maybe beat her on a given day, but that big-hitter does not go past Barty after that."
The second-ranked Naomi Osaka has been unparalleled in recent years when it comes to success on hard courts - winning four out of the last six Majors - but the Japanese has never been considered a serious contender at Roland Garros.
She has never won a clay-court event or gone past the third round in her four appearances.
Serena Williams, 39, will also be determined to prove she is still in the mix for the biggest titles.
But the American might struggle in her bid to win a record-equalling 24th Major title in Paris, having failed to get past the last 16 in her last three appearances.
"I would say Roland Garros is the most difficult because it requires her to be at the top on the physical side and it doesn't highlight her qualities in the same way," said her coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
If the seedings pan out, Barty and Swiatek will face each other in the semi-finals.
In the men's draw, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, the three most successful men in Slam tennis history, were on Thursday all drawn in the same half of the French Open.
Others to watch
ARYNA SABALENKA (BLR) 23
World ranking 4
Grand Slam titles 0
Best Roland Garros result
3rd round (2020)
WTA titles 10
Sabalenka heads to Paris with the confidence of beating world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in the Madrid Open final, a victory that handed the Belarusian her second title of this year.
The 23-year-old has the game to cause similar upsets at Roland Garros but will look to shed the inconsistency that has cost her in important matches, including a straight-sets defeat by American teenager Coco Gauff in the last-16 in Rome.
COCO GAUFF (USA) 17
World ranking 25
Grand Slam titles 0
Best Roland Garros result
2nd round (2020)
WTA titles 2
The teenager is in form and is coming off of her second career title, and first of this year, at the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma, while dropping just one set during the clay-court tournament.
She has won nine of her last 10 matches, with the only loss coming in the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 event in Rome, where she lost to eventual champion and defending French Open winner Iga Swiatek.
PAULA BADOSA (ESP) 23 World ranking 34
Grand Slam titles 0
Best Roland Garros result
4th round (2020)
WTA titles 1
The Spaniard is enjoying a career-high ranking after winning her maiden WTA title in Belgrade last Sunday.
In less than two months, she has jumped from world No. 71 after making it to at least the semi-finals of the three clay-court events she has entered this season, while also claiming her biggest scalp to date in top-ranked Barty at Charleston last month.
REUTERS
World No. 1 Djokovic and Spain's Nadal, chasing a record-extending 14th title here, are on course to meet in the last four for the 58th time - more than any other player - while the Serb could also possibly face 20-time Major winner Federer in the quarter-finals.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
