The draw for the women’s French Open competition has taken place and top seed Serena Williams has been drawn in the top half with Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.
Williams will start her title defence against Slovakian world No.76 Magdalena Rybarikova. Rybarikova recently recorded her best ever performance at a premier mandatory event by reaching the quarter-finals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. It will be the first meeting between the two since the 2013 Cincinnati Open, when Williams won the match 6-1, 6-1. Other seeded players in Williams’ half include Kristina Mladenovic (26), Elina Svitolina (18) and Ana Ivanovic (14).
Serena’s projected route:
R1– Rybarikova
R2– Kr.Pliskova/Pereira
R3– Mladenovic
R4– Ivanovic
QF– Azarenka
SF– Kerber
F– Halep#RG16— VAVEL USA Tennis (@VAVELUSATennis) 20 May 2016
Kerber’s French Open quest will start against Dutch player Kiki Bertens, a player who reached the fourth round at Roland Garros in 2014. It will be their second meeting this year after the Miami Open when Bertens retired in the third set of the match.
The lower half of the draw will be headlined by Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbine Muguruza. Radwanska will start off against Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski, who will be playing her first match on the tour for three months.
Aga draw:
R1: Jovanovski,
R2: Garcia/Tsurenko
R3: Strycova/Hercog
R4: Stephens/Errani
QF: Halep/Safarova
SF: Muguruza/Kvitova
F: Serena/Vika— Aga Radwanska (@ARadwanskaLive) 20 May 2016
Muguruza faces a potentially tough opening match against match against Anna Karolína Schmiedlová. The Slovakian is currently ranked 37th in the world but she has lost in the first round at her five most recent tournaments.
Outside of the top four, another strong contender for the title is Victoria Azarenka, who has already won three titles on the tour this year. The two-time Australian Open champion will start her campaign against Italy’s Karin Knapp in what will be their first encounter since the 2007 French Open. Azarenka is drawn in the same half as Williams and could play her in the quarter-finals.
Other notable first round matches include Simona Halep against Japan’s Nao Hibino, Venus Williams against Anett Kontaveit and Petra Kvitova Vs Danka Kovinic.
The full draw
The official #RG16 Women’s Draw pic.twitter.com/fBEYy2r1fC
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) 20 May 2016
Projected quarter-finals
Serena Williams Vs Victoria Azarenka
Angelique Kerber Vs Timea Bacsinszky
Roberta Vinci Vs Garbine Muguruza
Simona Halep Vs Agnieszka Radwanska
