French Open 2022 women’s preview: Iga Swiatek clear favourite at an unpredictable Slam-Sports News , Firstpost

French Open No 1 seed Iga Swiatek is on a 28-match winning streak. AP

Iga Swiatek was over 2000 points behind Ashleigh Barty in the WTA rankings but after the Australian Open champion retired, the World No 1 ranking fell to the 20-year-old Pole.

Swiatek was already on a two consecutive title-winning run when Barty retired and since then has gone on to win three more titles showing there couldn’t have been a better replacement for the World No 1 spot than her. The 2020 French Open champion enters the second Grand Slam of the year with five consecutive title wins and a 28-match winning streak.

Since late February, Swiatek has won titles in Qatar, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome. She has a winning streak of 28 matches and has only dropped one set in her last 20 matches.

There’s hardly anyone who is going to bet against the No 1 seed Swiatek who begins the tournament as the clear favourite but there’s something about the French Open and women’s singles title that dents your confidence in putting out all your bets on Swiatek. There have been three unseeded women’s champions at the French Open since 2017. That number stood at zero between the start of the open era in 1968 and 2016.

Just last year, unseeded Barbora Krejcikova won the title beating the 31st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final thereby becoming the sixth consecutive first-time Grand Slam champion to win the Suzanne-Lenglen cup. The win does come with certain asterisks attached to it. Barty had opted out due to an injury, 2018 winner Simona Halep didn’t play and Naomi Osaka pulled out midway, but stranger things have happened in Paris.

First quarter: Immediate threat for Swiatek 

Swiatek could square off against Liudmila Samsonova in the third round. The Russian was the only player to win a set against Swiatek during the clay season (in Stuttgart). That though shouldn’t be the biggest of the problems for the No 1 seed.

In the fourth round, however, she is expected to meet Jelena Ostapenko or Simona Halep. Ostapenko is the last player who defeated Swiatek, at the Dubai Open in mid-February. The Latvian, a former French Open champion, comes into the tournament with two first round losses in the clay events. On the other hand, former world No 1 Halep is hoping to write her own redemption story.

Swiatek could face Karolina Pliskova or Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals. Pliskova is currently on a three-match losing streak and with form not in her favour, Pegula is the favorite to reach the last-eight. The American recently made the final in Madrid and will be gunning to go one step further in Paris.

Predicted quarter-final: Iga Swiatek vs Jessica Pegula.

Second quarter: Paula Badosa to look out for

Paula Badosa has a 7-2 record in Paris where she reached the quarterfinals last year, the only time she has gone past the fourth round at any Grand Slam tournament. The Spaniard who was world No 70 last year reached career-best No 2 in 2022 and the third seed would look to get past the last-eight this time. She could face Veronika Kudermetova in the third round and Madison Keys in the fourth.

Badosa could possibly face No 7 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-final. The Belarusian was the semi-finalist in Rome and the finalist in Stuttgart, losing on both occasions to Swiatek. She could face Camila Giorgi in the third round and Danielle Collins in the fourth.

Predicted quarter-final: Paula Badosa vs Aryna Sabalenka.

Third quarter: Ons Jabeur headlines list of big names

No 6 seed Ons Jabeur won the clay title in Madrid and enters the Slam riding on some good form. She is 17-3 on clay this season. The first Arab woman to reach the quarter-final of a Grand Slam tournament and the first to win a WTA title, Jabeur is expected to do big things in Paris but she faces stiff competition from some big names. She could square off against two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the third round and one of Angelique Kerber or Emma Raducanu in the fourth.

Maria Sakkari hasn’t had a great clay season with quarter-final appearance in Rome being most her noteworthy contribution. But it was at the 2021 French Open where she had her breakthrough moment reaching the semifinals, before also making it to the same stage at the US Open. This year, she made it to the final of Indian Wells and reached the semi-final in Doha. There’s progress on all fronts and the Greek would be hoping to at least repeat last year’s performance in Paris.

She, however, faces some tough challenges. Sakkari could face Naomi Osaka or Amanda Anisimova in the third round. A lot of the spotlight will be on Osaka who pulled out of French Open last year following her decision not to attend mandatory press conferences. The four-time Grand Slam winner has never gone past the Round of 32 in Paris and it will be interesting to see how she performs this time around.

Whether Sakkari or Osaka, their fourth round opponent could be Belinda Bencic or US open finalist Leylah Fernandez.

Predicted quarter-final: Maria Sakkari vs Ons Jabeur.

Fourth quarter: Barbora Krejcikova returns to defend the title

Defending champion Krejcikova returns to action for the first time since February. An elbow injury forced her to miss the entire clay season so it is difficult to see her repeat last year’s performance. She could face Sloane Stephens in the third round.

In the fourth round, she could face Victoria Azarenka or Jil Teichmann. The two-time Australian Open winner Azarenka made the Round of 16 in Rome and Madrid, but it is Teichmann who could be the potential quarter-finalist. The Swiss is in good form having reached the semi-final in Madrid and the quarters in Rome.

The other big names in this section of the draw are Garbine Muguruza and Coco Gauff.

Predicted quarter-final: Coco Gauff vs Jil Teichmann.

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