French Open 2021 Draw and Bracket: Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka Handed a Tough Path, Ashleigh Barty and Iga Swiatek on Collision Course

French Open, the second grand slam of the year, is all set to enthrall tennis fans from 30th of this month. The qualifiers are currently underway, with several youngsters look promising enough to make their first main-draw appearance.

Ash Barty, Naomi Osaka lead the way at the French Open 2021

On the women’s side, Roland Garros has a history of being completely unpredictable over the past few years. It was the young Polish player Iga Swiatek that defeated Sofia Kenin in the finals last year. The year before, Australian Ashleigh Barty got to win her first major title in Paris.

With an incredible amount of talented players in the run, there is a fair chance for a debutant to win her first grand slam title on the Parisian clay.

Former world number one and the 2018 French Open champion Simona Halep withdrew from the tournament after facing a right-calf tear at the Italian Open. As a result of Halep’s withdrawal, Aryna Sabalenka is promoted to the third seed. Ash Barty and Naomi Osaka are the top two seeds in Paris.

Apart from them, defending champion Iga Swiatek, who won the Italian Open last week, has proved that she is the top contender to retain the French crown. The young Pole is seeded eighth in the tournament.

Serena Williams, who lost to Nadia Podoroska and Lisa Pigato on the European clay-court swing recently is seeded number seven in Paris.

The women’s singles draw was released just a while ago and here is how the matchups have shaped up at Roland Garros this year.

French Open 2021 Top-Half:

Ash Barty faces the Croatian player Bernanda Pera in the first round. Pera, who is a well-known name on the ITF circuit, has won eight singles title there.

Ons Jabeur could face Barty in the third round. The young American teenage sensation, Coco Gauff might play against compatriot Jennifer Brady in the third round.

A mouth-watering fourth round clash between Barty and Gauff awaits at the French Open this year.

Coming to the bottom quarter of the first half, fifth seed Elina Svitolina might lock horns with Venus Williams in the third round. But, owing to the American’s form, the chance of this matchup is highly impossible.

If there are no upsets, Ash Barty will face Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

There is a blockbuster clash in the first round as last year’s finalist Sofia Kenin plays Jelena Ostapenko. The American, who is struggling to find top form lately will look forward to this enthralling contest.

Iga Swiatek, the defending champion will play against Kaja Juvan in the first round. The Polish player might face Anett Kontaveit in the third round . Another interesting match awaits as the Spaniard Garbine Muguruza might face off against Swiatek in the pre-quarters.

Bottom-Half

Serena Williams leads the charge in the bottom half, and might set up a potential clash against compatriot Danielle Collins in the third round.

Former world number one Petra Kvitova might face Serena in the pre-quarters. Belarusian tennis star Victoria Azarenka sets up a mouth-watering clash against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round. Azarenka could well face notable clay-courter Aryna Sabalenka in the pre-quarters.

Winner of the 2019 US Open championship, Bianca Andreescu could face the Swiss player Belinda Bencic in the pre-quarters. Coming to Naomi Osaka, she will face Maria Patricia Tig in the first round.

The Japanese might end up facing Kiki Bertens in the fourth round. A clash between Andreescu and Osaka awaits in the quarter-finals, provided both of them win their first four matches. There is a lesser chance of this happening because of the lack of match practice from both Osaka and Andreescu on clay-courts this year.

Here are some notable round-1 matches from the women’s singles draw:

Potential quarter-final matchups:

1. Ash Barty vs Elina Svitolina
2. Iga Swiatek vs Jelena Ostapenko/Elise Mertens
3. Serena Williams vs Aryna Sabalenka
4. Naomi Osaka vs Bianca Andreescu

The women’s singles draw promises a lot of entertaining matches for fans to witness over the coming two weeks. Even though there is always the possibility of a surprise winner, there is a high chance of ranked players playing the finals this year at Roland Garros.