Ahead of the French Open, the women’s singles rankings chart is taking an interesting turn. While World Number 1 Iga Swiatek remains a cut above the rest as she leads by a huge margin, there is a stiff competition between the second and the third positions held by Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, respectively. As the French Open draw was released earlier today, hopes of Gauff to overtake Sabalenka rose after getting an easy draw, while Sabalenka will have to sweat it out against some tough opponents.

The Belarusian tennis star is the second seed at the tournament and has some familiar foes in her side of the draw. She’ll open her campaign against Erika Andreeva. However, Sabalenka’s biggest challenge will come in the fourth round where she’ll potentially face Madison Keys, who is in great form. Interestingly, Sabalenka had a near escape against Keys at the US Open and the latter will be out to seek revenge against the second seed.

On the contrary, Gauff has been handed a fairly easy draw. Seeded third, the American tennis sensation is placed in the second quarter of the draw. Gauff will open her campaign against a qualifier or a lucky loser. The first seeded player that Gauff will potentially face will be 30th seed Dayana Yastremska. The two might square off in the third round. Further, Gauff will potentially await Iga Swiatek in the semifinals. With Gauff’s path looking more clear than Sabalenka’s, the American star won’t get a better opportunity to dethrone the World Number 2.

How can Coco Gauff move ahead of Aryna Sabalenka?

Last year’s French Open results determine how many points Sabalenka and Gauff need to defend. Having reached the semifinals, Sabalenka earned more ranking points than Gauff, who fell in the quarterfinals. Consequently, Sabalenka has a higher number of points to defend in this year’s tournament.

On the other hand, there is a difference of just 500 points between Sabalenka and Gauff on the WTA rankings chart currently. Thus, if Sabalenka falls against Madison Keys in the pre-quarterfinals, Gauff will have to reach just the quarterfinals to overtake the Belarusian star in the WTA rankings. Given Gauff’s standards, she won’t be contend with just overtaking Sabalenka but to have her hands on the French Open trophy.

Meanwhile, Sabalenka will look to get over her recent disappointing defeats against Swiatek in Madrid and Rome. Although easier said than done, the 26-year-old will look to make it back-to-back major wins after she won the Australian Open earlier this year.