Roland Garros - women’s singles preview

The draws are out, and defending champion Halep in the top half has Australian Ajla Tomljanovic as her opening round opponent, not an easy proposition. However, the route to the round of sixteen appears fairly friendly after that, and Simona should meet sixteenth seed Wang Qiang there. Halep v Kvitová appears to be the quarter final.

The top half is loaded, with #1 seed Naomi Osaka possibly having to deal with Serena Williams or Ashleigh Barty then Halep in what is the seeded semi final.

Before that, Osaka may have to deal with unseeded danger Victoria Azarenka in the second round and if successful there Maria Sakkari in the third round. Sakkari was a semi finalist in the recent Italian Open, only beaten by eventual champion Karolina Pliskova.

Barty v Williams is a likely round of sixteen clash, reviving memories of their 2018 second round match, won in three sets by Williams.

The bottom half of the draw is less potent in terms of pure numbers, but it houses two of the most credible threats in this years tournament. Fourth seed Kiki Bertens and second seed Karolina Pliskova are winners of the past two Premier events, in Madrid and Rome respectively. They are the the stand out semi finalists, given the less than stellar form of eighth seed Sloane Stephens, and (as at time of writing) the upset loss of fifth seed Angie Kerber in the first round at the hands of Russian teenager Anastasia Potapova.

Kiki may have issues with Johanna Konta in round three, and Belinda Bencic could be a round of sixteen danger, but it would be foolish to bet against the Dutch number one.

Pliskova should be wary of unseeded floaters in her section of the draw, namely Kristina Mladenovic, who could be a third round opponent, and Dayana Yastremska, winner of the Strasbourg tournament yesterday. With the exit of Kerber, Dayana could surprise and sneak through to the quarter finals.

My forecast:

Semi finalists 

Ash Barty (8) v Simona Halep (3)

Kiki Bertens (4) v Karolina Pliskova (2)

Final 

Simona Halep (3) v Kiki Bertens (4)

Winner: Kiki Bertens