Reigning champion Iga Swiatek and world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka have learned their respective Roland-Garros paths, while second seed Coco Gauff could run into a string of seeded compatriots.
Here are the key takeaways from the women’s draw.
Pole faces dangerous route to fifth crown
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the world’s most dominant player on clay of the past four years, but given her imposing record at Porte d’Auteuil, Swiatek remains the name most feared in the women’s draw.
For the first time since her maiden Roland-Garros title as an unsung world No.54 in 2020, Swiatek arrives without a title to her name for the season, let alone a final on clay.
The Polish fifth seed could run into her greatest rival, top seed Sabalenka in a blockbuster semi-final should both progress as far in what would be just their second Grand Slam tussle.
The soon-to-be 24-year-old won’t have cast an eye anywhere near that far ahead. First she’d need to see off Slovak Rebecca Sramkova before a potential second-round stoush against fellow major champion, Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu.
Ukrainian 26th seed Marta Kostyuk looms as a third-round assignment before her bogeywoman, Latvian 21st seed and fellow Roland-Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko – whom she has not beaten in six attempts – in a possible fourth round.
Rome winner and fourth seed Jasmine Paolini – the Italian she denied in last year’s final – is on a quarter-final collision course with Swiatek.
Olympic champion in Sabalenka’s path
Seeded No.1 in Paris for the first time, Sabalenka would not be reading too much into having avoided a potential Swiatek quarter-final.
The 26-year-old, searching for her maiden Roland-Garros trophy, came within a point of squaring off against the Pole in the title match two years ago only for Karolina Muchova to spoil that party.
Should Swiatek play her way into the second week Sabalenka is wise enough to know there is no easy time to face the four-time champion in Paris and will be focused squarely on her first-round opponent, Kamilla Rakhimova.
Former quarter-finalist and 27th seed, Canadian Leylah Fernandez, is on track for a third-round clash, while big-hitting 16th seed Amanda Anisimova – a semi-finalist in 2019 – could cross her path in the round of 16.
Her Rome conqueror, Chinese eighth seed Zheng Qinwen, last year’s Olympic gold medallist in Paris, won’t be short on confidence of foiling her run in the quarter-finals.
Newest Slam winner in Gauff’s quarter
Arriving at a major at her highest ranking, new world No.2 Coco Gauff has quietly worked her way into form on clay, reaching successive WTA 1000 finals in Madrid and Rome, including a first win on the surface over Swiatek in the Spanish capital.
The 21-year-old wouldn’t have to confront Sabalenka or the Pole until the final.
Five of the seven American seeds fell in the bottom quarter and Gauff could run into two of them back-to-back as she bids for her second Roland-Garros final.
Australian Open champion and seventh seed Madison Keys was drawn in Gauff’s quarter while her former doubles partner, third seed Jessica Pegula, could end up her semi-final hurdle.
Gauff starts her campaign against free-swinging Australian Olivia Gadecki with former champion and 15th seed Barbora Krejcikova – in just her second tournament of the season – her potential fourth-round opponent.
Top 10 teen on third seed’s radar
Following her maiden Grand Slam semi-final last year, a run in which she scuttled an ill Sabalenka’s hopes in the last eight, sixth seed Mirra Andreeva rightly has her sights on the silverware this fortnight.
While just shy of the form on clay that carried her to successive titles on hard court in Dubai and Indian Wells early this season, Andreeva has enough matches on the red dirt to suggest she is again in contention.
The 18-year-old – the youngest player in the top 100 – could clash with third seed Pegula in the quarter-finals ahead of a potential last-four meeting with Gauff.
She opens against Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and could meet another Spaniard, Paula Badosa, in the fourth round should the 10th seed navigate a route beyond four-time major winner Naomi Osaka in the opening round.
Pegula, whose best result in Paris is a quarter-final three years ago, could run into an unseeded Ons Jabeur in the third round and 2023 finalist, Czech 14th seed Karolina Muchova in the fourth round.