WTA Roland Garros Update: Sabalenka, Rybakina Off to Strong Starts at French Open

Defending Champion Iga Swiatek Remains Overwhelming Favorite at Roland Garros

Former Champions Ostapenko, Krejcikova Among Early Upset Victims

Seeded players are exiting the women’s draw at the French Open at a fast and furious pace.

Fourteen-seeded players failed to win their opening match with No. 8 seed Maria Sakkari and No. 10 Petra Kvitova among those suffering first-round defeats. When looking at the WTA Roland Garros update, the list of contenders continues to shrink.

Fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia, No. 15 Liudmila Dmitriyevna Samsonova, and No. 17 Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, all fell in the second round as that has dominated the recent tennis news.

Naturally, the unexpected results have impacted the tennis odds. Still, there are gaps between Swiatek and the rest of the field and another gap after Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina and the other contenders.

Swiatek Rolling Along

Defending champion Iga Swiatek came into the tournament as the favorite and that hasn’t changed with Swiatek at -140 to win the tournament and become the first player to win back-to-back women’s singles titles at the French Open since Justine Henin in 2006 and 2007.

With the losses by Ostapenko and Barbora Krejcikova, Swiatek is the only former women’s champion at Roland Garros still in the field. Her march to another Grand Slam title is dominating the WTA Roland Garros update.

Swiatek was pushed by American Claire Liu in the first set before rolling to the 6-4, 6-0 victory.

Krejcikova, who defeated Swiatek in the Dubai final in February, is one of the six-seeded players in Swiatek’s quarter who failed to reach the second round.

Rybakina, Sabalenka Rolling Along

No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina owns two wins over Swiatek in 2023 and that will be part of the WTA Roland Garros update as the tournament moves along.

When they met in the quarterfinals at the Italian Open, Swiatek retired with the third set all square at 2-2.

Before getting a chance to take on Swiatek again, she has some work to do.

So far, it isn’t been a problem for the No. 4 seed as she hasn’t dropped a set in her first two matches. With her strong play, her title odds have gone from +725 to +500.

It has been a similar story for No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka as she posted two straight-set wins. She had to work for the opening set against Iryna Shymanovich in the second round.

Garcia, Ostapenko, Qinwen Zheng, and Shuai Zhang are among the seeded players to tumble in Sabalenka’s portion of the bracket. That leaves Daria Kasatkina as the only seeded player Sabalenka may need to deal with to reach the semifinals. Keep that in mind when looking at the tennis scores.

Unseeded Sloane Stephens, who reached the 2018 French Open finals, could meet Sabalenka in the fourth round.

Sabalenka’s odds have moved from +600 to +350 since the tournament began. Stephens’ odds are at +5000.

Pegula Looks For Extended Stay

Jessica Pegula didn’t have the easiest bracket. However, so far so good for the top-seeded American player.

She dropped just six games to fellow American Danielle Collins, who reached the 2022 Australian Open final. After winning the first set against Camila Giorgi, the veteran Italian had to retire.

Pegula will need to get by Elise Mertens, a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist as she looks to continue her bid to reach the quarterfinals for the fifth time in her last six Grand Slam singles draws.

She is sixth in the French Open odds at +2000.

Seeded American Going Home

Madison Keys came to Roland Garros looking for her second trip to the French Open semifinals. That bid ended with a surprising three-set loss to fellow American Kayla Day.

Keys finished strong in the third set against veteran Kaia Kanepi in the first round. She didn’t have the answers against, a qualifier.

It is a missed opportunity for Keys as she wouldn’t have faced a seeded player in either the third or fourth rounds.

Since Keys reached the semifinals at the 2018 French Open and followed that up with a run to the 2019 quarterfinals, Keys is just 6-4 at the French Open.

Keys was priced at +8000 to win at Roland Garros heading into the second round.

American Bernarda Pena had better luck as she knocked out No. 22 seed Donna Vekic in three sets in a tough second-round match. Peyton Stearns is another unseeded American through to the third round after stunning Ostapenko in the second round.

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