Roland Garros 2015 – Women’s draw – is this the most wide-open yet?

Written by: Global Chick on 22nd May 2015

Roland Garros 2015 - Women's draw - is this the most wide-open yet? |

Is this year’s women’s Roland Garros draw one of the most wide-open in recent years?

While most people will watch the men’s draw unfold over the next two weeks with great interest, there is a lot to watch on the women’s side too, as we break down the draw.

[1] Serena Williams
It has been a tricky time on the dirt for the World No. 1. She came to the Fed Cup tie against Italy declaring she was ready for the clay, and while she suffered her only loss in the doubles, she was pushed to the limit by Sara Errani in the singles, and perhaps had to reflect that she needed a lot more practice.

Even in Madrid, it was a prickly Williams that eventually settled in to her rhythm acknowledging that the surface was at least allowing her to play herself into some form. She came up against an inspired Petra Kvitova in the semi-finals, and a grumbling elbow that caused her to withdraw in Rome, where she had been defending her title.

A two-time winner in Paris, she seems to settle regularly around the quarter-final mark, but has had some very notable early exits, most recently at the hands of WTA Rising Star Garbine Muguruza.

She faces an early banana skin against Victoria Azarenka, who is improving with every match. They had a good fight in Madrid, but you would have to give the edge to the World No. 1 still, at this stage. Of course it raises up an interesting potential fourth round against Venus Williams (she starts against Sloane Stephens in our pick of the R1 clashes).

She could face best-pal Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-final and could even face Madison Keys for the second time in a Slam semi-final. From the third round, all her matches deserve popcorn and a comfortable chair.

[2] Maria Sharapova
Then again it hasn’t been the best of runs for Sharapova on the clay this year either. A leg injury that prevented her from playing the Fed Cup semi-final in her home town of Sochi and saw her crash out of Stuttgart (where she was attempting a fourth straight title defence).

It was not until Madrid until she felt she was able to train properly and was rewarded with a run up to the semi-final but missed out on a chance to defend last year’s title, before making up for it with Rome title.

The defending champion actually has a tough start with Kaia Kanepi in the opening round, and comes up against Slam contenders of years gone by in the next rounds, starting with Sam Stosur, a former finalist here and either Lucie Safarova or Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round.

Sharapova made light work in the end against a fatigued Carla Suarez Navarro in their final set in Rome, but the Spaniard is not to be trifled with and each match is giving her a lot of confidence.

[3] Simona Halep
The year started brilliantly for the Romanian. She’s picked up three titles already this year, and although she has two semi-finals on the clay in the bag (Stuttgart and Rome) she fell at the first hurdle of reprising her run to the Madrid final against Alize Cornet, but succumbed to the pressure of defending big points for the first time.

Well the points are pretty big for her in Paris, where she made a spirited run to her first Grand Slam final last year. She surprisingly imploded in her Rome semi-final against Carla Suarez Navarro, but this is a much more confident Halep who seems to deal with these knock backs pretty pragmatically.

This is the real acid test though – confident words have impressed us, but now she has the chance to shake things up in the higher order of the women’s rankings. Her quarter is there for the taking, to be honest. Above her, Ana Ivanovic has to face her voodoo doll in the form of Caroline Garcia yet again, having lost to her three times in a row this year.

Halep has her chance to take her revenge against Cornet in the third round, and could face Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round, but really should be able to nail her colours to the semi-final mast.

[4] Petra Kvitova
We have already noted the difference in confidence for both Halep and Kvitova, and enjoyed a little banter with the two-time Wimbledon champion as regards her feeling towards the clay. But the fact of the matter is the big-hitting Czech is just looking to play her game on the dirt, and it worked in Madrid as she scooped her second title there, after a short lived start in Stuttgart with an opening loss, but seeing as that was her first real tour match back from a self-enforced break we can perhaps forgive her.

She too fell to a Suarez Navarro in Rome (more on her later) but she is back and enjoying her time on the court, so perhaps this will be the year she betters her previous best run to the 2012 semi-final.

We’re going to sit back and hopefully watch Kvitova and Madison Keys try to de-fluff a ball again after the American battered her off the court at the Australian Open. Wisely choosing to withdraw in Strasbourg, Keys could really prove herself to be a big-time player and could set herself up for another clash with Serena Williams in a Slam semi-final.

The best of the rest
[5] Caroline Wozniacki
Ok so her partnership with three time French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario may have been short-lived, just spending some time with her in Miami but it hasn’t stopped the Dane from clocking up some solid performances, just being edged out by Angelique Kerber in the Stuttgart final.

Wozniacki had a solid clay run until she came up against Victoria Azarenka once more this year, losing to the Belarusian for the third time this year. But she has really shown that she has the game for clay, achieving her best results on the dirt for quite some time.

If Jelena Jankovic was in good form, their potential third match would be quite entertaining but the glittery warrior princess is still struggling with injuries, so instead we are going to keep an eye out for the potential fourth round clash with Serena.

[8] Carla Suarez Navarro
She’s not new, she’s steady and consistent, and she’s had a solid start to her clay court season, but could she be the dark horse in the pack this fortnight?

Two quarter-finals (Stuttgart and Madrid) before knocking out Kvitova and Halep on the way to a three-setter with Sharapova, she is gaining in confidence, but has she got what it takes to take herself further than her best performances at the French, with two quarter-finals.

She has some challenges with very good clay-courters in her path – Flavia Penneta, Angelique Kerber, and her doubles partner Muguruza. If she can weather that storm, and have the self-belief (and the stamina) to push Sharapova again, she could make that breakthrough.

Topics: Caroline Wozniacki, french open draw, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, roland gars, Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, women main draw

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10sBalls_com says:

May 22, 2015 at 5:06 am

@rolandgarros 2015 – Women’s draw – is this the most wide-open yet? – http://t.co/DCTuuKNCgo #tennis #RG15 @WTA #LOVENEWRG
rfsatar says:

May 22, 2015 at 5:21 am

RT @10sBalls_com: @rolandgarros 2015 – Women’s draw – is this the most wide-open yet? – http://t.co/DCTuuKNCgo #tennis #RG15 @WTA #LOVENEWRG
nuhumooktar says:

May 22, 2015 at 7:54 am

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mata_beatrice says:

May 22, 2015 at 8:22 am

RT @TennisNewsOne: Roland Garros 2015 – Women’s draw – is this the most wide-open yet? http://t.co/Qah1KxgpMg #tennis