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2017 French Open: Women's singles preview

Roar Guru
24th May, 2017
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Spain's Garbine Muguruza has defeated Venus Williams to win Wimbledon. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Roar Guru
24th May, 2017
7
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With the absence of several stars, this year’s French Open women’s field is the most wide open for a long time.

Three-time champion Serena Williams will be absent from any Grand Slam tournament for the first time since the 2011 French Open, as she begins maternity leave after announcing her pregnancy last month.

Two-time champion Maria Sharapova will also be missing, after she was overlooked for a wildcard after recently returning from a doping suspension, as will former world number one Victoria Azarenka.

This will mark the first major tournament since the 2002 Australian Open in which none of that trio are present, and it leaves defending champion Garbine Muguruza, as well as Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone as the only former champions competing in this year’s draw.

The world number one ranking is also up for grabs, though Germany’s Angelique Kerber has a chance to tighten her grip on the position because she has no points to defend from last year.

Let’s have a look at the main contenders for the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, starting with the defending champion, Garbine Muguruza.

[4] Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
French Open history
Best result: Won (2016)
Last year’s result: Won

Grand Slam results so far in 2017
Australian Open: Quarter-finals

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Titles so far in 2017: None

Since upsetting Serena to win her first Grand Slam title here last June, Muguruza has struggled to adapt to the pressure of being a major champion.

The Spaniard’s form over the past 12 months has been inconsistent, with her only significant result coming at the Australian Open earlier this year, where she reached the quarter-finals for the first time.

Other than that, she also suffered early exits at both Wimbledon and the US Open, on either side of a heavy defeat to eventual gold medallist Monica Puig at the Rio Olympics in August.

She did, however, reach the quarter-finals at Indian Wells, losing a tightly-contested match-up against Karolina Pliskova, and the semi-finals in Rome, where she was forced to retire after five games against Elina Svitolina.

Now she returns to Roland Garros with 2000 points to defend, which means an early loss could see her drop out of the WTA’s top ten for the first time in nearly two years.

Recent history won’t be kind to her, as no woman has been able to defend her title at Roland Garros since Justine Henin won a hat-trick of titles between 2005 and 2007.

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Prediction: quarter-finals

[3] Simona Halep (ROU)
French Open history
Best result: Runner-up (2014)
Last year’s result: Fourth round

Grand Slam results so far in 2017
Australian Open: First round

Titles so far in 2017: Madrid

This represents Halep’s best chance yet of breaking through for her maiden Grand Slam title.

After losing in the first round of the Australian Open for the second year in a row, the Romanian has turned things around in recent weeks, reaching the semi-finals in Stuttgart, as well as successfully defending her title in Madrid and reaching the final in Rome last week.

The 25-year-old has been installed as the bookies’ favourite, though she will need to overcome some mental demons if she is to win.

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As noted above, she was a first-round loser at Melbourne Park in January while she has yet to return to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros since losing to Sharapova in three sets in the 2014 final.

She will also have the added pressure of being the favourite at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career, but I think she will flourish and make the most of the absences of her rivals.

Prediction: Champion

Simona Halep

Carine06 / Flickr

[1] Angelique Kerber (GER)
French Open history
Best result: Quarter-finals (2012)
Last year’s result: First round

Grand Slam results so far in 2017
Australian Open: Fourth round

Titles so far in 2017: None

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The world number one got her season off to a good start when she reached the quarter-finals in Brisbane, but she had her Australian Open title defence ended when she lost to Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets in the fourth round.

She was able to rebound by reaching the quarter-finals in Miami, where she lost to Venus Williams, and the final in Monterrey, doing down to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

However, her clay court results have been less than impressive.

The two-time defending champion in Stuttgart, the German dropped her opening match, before retiring hurt to Eugenie Bouchard in the third round in Madrid.

She also lost her opener in Rome to Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit.

Because the 29-year-old lost in the first round last year, she will have nothing to defend in Paris, and as a result can tighten her grip on the world number one ranking.

However, her poor form so far this year does little to suggest that she will be a contender at Roland Garros in 2017. Only a respectable run will prevent her season from further spiralling down.

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Prediction: Quarter-finals

Angelique Kerber Tennis US Open 2016

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

[2] Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
French Open history
Best result: Second round twice (2014, 2015)
Last year’s result: First round

Grand Slam results so far in 2017
Australian Open: Quarter-finals

Titles so far in 2017: Brisbane, Dubai

Currently the highest-ranked player with at least one title so far in 2017, the second seed will be keen to continue improving on her Grand Slam results, having reached the final of the US Open last year and the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January.

The Czech right-hander kicked off her season by winning the Brisbane International without dropping a set; that was followed by her defeating Caroline Wozniacki to triumph in Dubai for her eighth career title.

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The 25-year-old also reached back-to-back semi-finals at Indian Wells and Miami, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Wozniacki, both of whom went on to lose in the respective finals.

However, she was unable to make an impact in the clay-court swing, losing in the quarter-finals of Stuttgart and Rome to eventual champions Laura Siegemund and Elina Svitolina, respectively, on either side of a second round loss to Anastasija Sevastova in Madrid.

Those results, as well as only reaching the second round at the 2014 and 2015 French Opens, prove that Pliskova still needs the time to adjust her running game to the demanding clay courts, which have proven to be unforgiving to some of the top players in the game in past years.

She has a shot at claiming the world number one ranking for the first time, though she would need Kerber to lose in the first round and the reach the final herself.

While her clay court results need improving on many fronts, I can see her making a deep run at Roland Garros.

Prediction: Semi-finals

Other notable contenders: Elina Svitolina, Venus Williams, Johanna Konta, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Kristina Mladenovic.

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