WTA Roland Garros - DRAW: Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka share half

The third and final Major of the season at Roland Garros in Paris is just around the corner. Four top-10 players miss the event, including the last year's champion Ashleigh Barty, leaving the other 128 players to fight for the trophy. The top favorite Simona Halep is the top seed, winning both WTA tournaments on clay since the WTA return after the coronavirus outbreak and seeking the second crown in Paris. On Monday, Simona claimed the first Rome title, gathering confidence ahead of Roland Garros where she plays against Sara Sorribles Tormo in the first round. Simona should reach the third round, facing Irina-Camelia Begu or Jil Teichmann in round two ahead of a more potentially dangerous rival in the battle for the last 16. Dayana Yastremska and the last year's finalist Marketa Vondrousova should challenge Halep before the quarter-final, with Cori Gauff, Johanna Konta, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Kiki Bertens as the remaining player in the top quarter.

A former champion Serena Williams and Elina Svitolina lead quarter no. 2, together with Anett Kontaveit, Elise Mertens, Victoria Azarenka and Venus Williams. Seeking the 24th Major crown, Serena practiced at her coach's Academy this week, opening the campaign against Kristie Ahn and hoping for another good result after the US Open semi-final. Garbine Muguruza, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Karolina Muchova and Donna Vekic are the seeded players in the third quarter, together with the Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin who is yet to repeat that tennis. Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, Madison Keys, Petra Martic, Sloane Stephens and the 2nd seed Karolina Pliskova lead the bottom quarter, all hoping to prevail and advance into the semis. The second part of the draw looks wide open, and it will be interesting who will make the title clash, most probably against Simona Halep is everything goes right for the Romanian in the first six encounters.

Simona Halep and Serena Williams are in the top half.

In the last year's final, Ashleigh Barty Barty took down a teenager Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-3 in 70 minutes to become the first Australian champion in Paris since Margaret Court in 1973, never playing in the Major semi-final before. Ashleigh lost two sets in seven matches, delivering her best tennis to claim the biggest career title and become world no. 2 on the next day. Marketa couldn't find the level that propelled her into the title match, serving at 76% and dropping more than a half points in her games to suffer five breaks from 13 opportunities offered to the Aussie. On the other hand, Ashleigh played well on both the first and second serve, fending off three out of four break points to control the scoreboard and bring the match home. With 27 winners and 26 unforced errors, Barty had the upper hand from start to finish, halting Marketa on ten winners and 22 mistakes to lift the trophy and enter history books. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3j0ghCh