The French Open begins at Roland Garros on Sunday and having previewed the men’s draw it is now time to have a look at the women’s event ahead of the action getting underway. This is often the most wide open of the slams and that remains the case here with it 14/1 the field bar two.
Simona Halep finally tasted Grand Slam success in this tournament last year and she will attempt to defend the title but there are a lot of players who are in good form and will be out to take the crown from her.
Recent Winners
2018 – Simona Halep
2017 – Jelena Ostapenko
2016 – Garbine Muguruza
2015 – Serena Williams
2014 – Maria Sharapova
2013 – Serena Williams
2012 – Maria Sharapova
2011 – Li Na
2010 – Francesca Schiavone
2009 – Svetlana Kuznetsova
The Format
There are 128 players in the draw which has been determined prior to the event beginning and the competition is a straight knockout over the best of five sets like the other Grand Slams. Where there is a difference in this one is that there is no tiebreak in the final set of matches. They have to be won by two clear games when the score reaches 6-6. The champion will be crowned on the third Sunday of the tournament.
Top Quarter
The world number one Naomi Osaka goes in search of a third successive Grand Slam title from this section of the draw. Despite being the number one seed, withdrawing from two of her last three events means she is only the third favourite for the title. She is seeded to meet Ashleigh Barty in the quarter finals although there are some seriously big names trying to stop that from happening. The seeded players in this section are Maria Sakkari, Caroline Garcia, Madison Keys, Serena Williams, Bianca Andreescu and Hsieh Su-wei.
The big names don’t stop among the seeded players with the former champion Jelena Ostapenko in this quarter of the draw while Viktoria Azarenka is also here as well. Danielle Collins, Andrea Petkovic, Sofia Kenin and Timea Babos are just some of the ladies without a seeding who will be looking to go deep here.
Second Quarter
The defending champion Simona Halep is the top seed in the second quarter. If she is going to successfully defend the title she could have to come up against Petra Kvitova in the quarter final which isn’t actually the worst draw in the world. There are six other seeds in this quarter and they are Mihaela Buzarnescu, Anett Kontaveit, Aryna Sabalenka, Qiang Wang, Daria Kasatkina and Lesia Tsurenko so you would have to say Halep has landed in a nice part of the draw.
Eugenie Bouchard probably standsout the most among the unseeded players. Olympic champion Monica Puig, Kirsten Flipkens, Dominika Cibulkova, Barbora Strycova and the former Grand Slam winner Sam Stosur are other players who will look to take advantage of the open look to this quarter and have a big fortnight to round off their clay court seasons.
Third Quarter
This is the section where the beaten finalist of 12 months ago is housed in Sloane Stephens. It is actually the form house and second favourite for the tournament, Kiki Bertens that is the leading seed in the quarter however. The other six seeded players here are British number one Jo Konta, Donna Vekic, Belinda Bencic, Elina Svitolina, Garbine Muguruza and Aliaksandra Sasnovich so this is a competitive section.
Venus Williams headlines the unseeded players in this part of the draw and Elina Svitolina is the unlucky person to have drawn her in the first round. Laura Siegemund, Yulia Putintseva, Alize Cornet and Magdalena Rybarikova are just some of the other standout names who could make a run for a while across the fortnight.
Bottom Quarter
Recent Rome Masters champion Karolina Pliskova is the top seed in the bottom half of the draw and if everything goes to plan she will face the Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber in the quarter final but as ever there are a number of other seeded players looking to spoil that particular showdown. They are Carla Suarez Navarro, Elise Mertens, Anastasija Sevastova, Caroline Wozniacki, Julia Goerges and Petra Martic.
As with the other quarters there are a host of players who do not have a seeding who could run well this week. Former winner Svetlana Kuznetsova is one of those while the home star Kiki Mladenovic will be hoping to use the crowds to her advantage. Kaia Kanepi, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Ons Jabeur will be looking to round off the clay season in style.
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Outright Betting
Karolina Pliskova has been to the quarter finals or better in seven of the last 10 Grand Slams which is a decent enough record and while clay might not be her strongest suit, she is a former semi-finalist here and won in Rome a couple of weeks ago. The Czech is yet to land her maiden Grand Slam title but that hasn’t stopped the last three winners of this all breaking their duck in this tournament and I fancy Pliskova could be in the form to do the same here. Her quarter has a few big names but none that are in amazing form and the longer the powerful Czech goes on the better she should get. She’s my main bet for this tournament.
I’ll also play Anett Kontaveit in the other half of the draw. She is in the second quarter where Simona Halep is but if anything happens to Halep early doors there is nothing to faze the Estonian in terms of going deep in the tournament. Kontaveit had a good run to the final of the Stuttgart indoor last month even though she had a bit of help with withdrawals and she was a semi-finalist in Rome last season so she can clearly play on the red dirt. At 66/1 in a wide open draw outside of Halep, she could just be a little too big.
Quarter Betting
I’ll go with three quarter bets in this tournament. I’ve already highlighted the credentials of Anett Kontaveit in the second quarter and 14/1 is a big enough price to take her for the quarter as well. In the top quarter there are a bunch of big names but Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams have been withdrawal machines in the last couple of months while Ash Barty might be more suited to the two slams to come. I think it is worth taking a chance on the Rome semi-finalist Maria Sakkari who has been playing well on clay this year having shown her prowess on the surface last year. She has won Rabat this year, beating some decent players in the process and looks in peak form, unlike some in this section. At 16/1 she’s the value here.
Belinda Bencic is enjoying a fine 2019 making the quarter final in Charleston and the semi-final in Madrid after an excellent hard court season and she could be value to upstage the likes of Sloane Stephens and Kiki Bertens in the third quarter. Elina Svitolina could be a danger in this quarter but she has to come past Venus Williams in the first round before that can happen. Bencic has a nice early part of the draw to get her game back in groove and at a double figure price I think she has gone a little too much under the radar here.
Tips
Back K.Pliskova to win French Open (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 15.00 with Betway (1/2 1-2)
Back her here:
Back A.Kontaveit to win French Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back her here:
Back M.Sakkari to win 1st Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Bet365
Back A.Kontaveit to win 2nd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Boylesports
Back her here:
Back B.Bencic to win 3rd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 12.00 with BetVictor
Back her here:
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