By Former World No. 1s Halep and Wozniacki Denied Wild Cards at the French Open
Iga Swiatek is eyeing a bit of history as she looks to become the first player since Justine Henin to win three straight French Open women’s singles titles. It should not be a surprise that the odds for the 2024 Roland Garros women’s preview are headlined by the world’s top-ranked player.
Swiatek entered the semifinals of the Italian Open having won her last 10 matches.
There will be plenty of emotions when Alize Cornet, one of five French players to receive wild cards into the main draw, plays in the tournament. She has announced that she is retiring after the 2024 French Open. Cornet owns the WTA record by playing in 68 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments.
The WTA 500 tournament in Strasbourg and a WTA 250 stop in Morocco are coming up next week as the final events before the French Open begins on May 26.
Swiatek Is Still The One
While Swiatek has won 75% of her singles matches at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, her numbers at the French Open are truly staggering. Since making her debut at Roland Garros, she is 28-2 at the French Open with three titles in the last four years. Swiatek has won 25 of those matches in straight sets. It is no wonder that the 2024 Roland Garros women’s preview had Swiatek favored at -115 in the French Open outrights.
Swiatek has already won three titles this season – topping Elena Rybakina in the Qatar final, dropping just four games against Maria Sakkari to win the title match in Indian Wells – then winning a third-set tiebreaker against Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid.
The only blemish for Swiatek at Roland Garros over the last four years was a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Maria Sakkari in the 2021 quarterfinals.
Sabalenka Tries to Seal the Deal
No. 2 seed Sabalenka’s 2023 French Open title hopes ended when she lost 7-5 in the third set to unseeded Karolina Muchova in the semifinals to prevent a championship showdown with Swiatek.
There was still some progress as Sabalenka lost in the third round in her previous three French Opens. She has won 67% of her matches at Roland Garros, the lowest of the four Grand Slams.
Sabalenka split her next eight matches after winning the Australian Open for the second year in a row. She did knock out Danielle Collins, Mirra Andreeva, and Elena Rybakina to reach the final in Madrid.
The 2024 Roland Garros women’s preview has Sabalenka with the second-shortest odds of +600 as she tries to make it two Grand Slam titles in a row.
Sabalenka is priced at -110 to win two Grand Slam singles titles in 2024 and +700 odds to capture three Grand Slams.
Gauff Leads the U.S. Hopes
Coco Gauff made it past the quarterfinals in just one of her first 18 Grand Slam events. In the last two, she won the US Open and then got to the semifinals at the 2024 Australian Open.
Gauff is trying to reach the French Open women’s singles final for the second time in the last three years. When looking back at past Roland Garros scores, the last U.S. player to accomplish that is Serena Williams who won the 2013 and 2015 French Open titles.
Gauff has had a strong showing in Rome highlighted by a 7-6, 6-1 win over Qinwen Zheng in the quarterfinals.
Gauff is third at +900 in the French Open outrights. It could be all on her shoulders when it comes to the U.S. hopes with Jessica Pegula dealing with injuries. Danielle Collins, +3400 to win the French Open, is a dark-horse candidate.
Can Former World No. 1s Make A Run?
While most of the attention will be on Swiatek, Sabalenka, Gauff, and Elena Rybakina, there are some big names to keep an eye on.
Naomi Osaka, who has spent 25 weeks at No. 1 in the women’s tennis rankings, has +3200 odds to win the French Open.
Osaka has won four Grand Slam singles titles. However, she has lost in the first round in her last four slams.
Former World No. 1 Elina Svitolina has +8000 odds in the French Open outrights.
It looked like another ex-No. 1 player might be in the field as Simona Halep had her suspension for doping lifted. However, the French Tennis Federation did not give Halep a wild card into either the qualifying or main draws.
Caroline Wozniacki was also bypassed when the wild cards were given out.
A Quick Look Back
All three seeded players in Swiatek’s section of the draw fell in the first round as 14 seeded players failed to get out of the opening round.
Three Americans reached the fourth round but only Gauff got through to the quarterfinals.
Only four of the top 10 seeds advanced to the quarterfinals. Unseeded Karolina Muchova upset No. 2 seed Sabalenka to reach the final while No. 1 seed Swiatek beat No. 6 Gauff and No. 14 Beatriz Haddad Maia in straight sets before topping Muchova 6-4 in the third set to win her third French Open championship.
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