5 Women's 1R matches to look out for at French Open 2024 ft. Paula Badosa vs Katie Boulter

The French Open will get underway at Roland Garros in Paris on Sunday, May 26. The draw was unveiled last Thursday, May 23, and thus the battle lines have already been drawn for the tournament.

Defending champion and World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has been handed a tough draw in the tournament. Second-seed Aryna Sabalenka has also been handed a similar fate.

In this article, we will take a look at the five most potentially exciting women's singles matches in the first round:

#5 Jelena Ostapenko vs Jaqueline Cristian

Jelena Ostapenko

Ostapenko, the ninth seed, will celebrate her 27th birthday during the tournament in Paris. She is also a former champion there, having won the title in 2017. She has had a decent campaign on clay so far, having reached the fourth round of the Madrid Open and the quarterfinal of the Italian Open.

Meanwhile, Cristian won a few matches both at the Madrid Open and the Italian Open before losing to two formidable players, Danielle Collins and Coco Gauff, respectively.

She is ranked 67th in the world at the moment and is a decent player on clay and should be able to take the fight to Ostapenko.

#4 Maria Sakkari vs Varvara Gracheva

Maria Sakkari

Sakkari goes into the tournament as the sixth seed and has been a consistent performer on the WTA Tour this year. She finished as the runner-up at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and also reached the quarterfinal of the Miami Open. She also reached the fourth rounds of both the Madrid Open and the Italian Open this year.

Gracheva, meanwhile, reached a career-high ranking of world No. 39 last January, but her performances have gone downward since then. However, she is still quite young at 23 and might regain her touch at Roland Garros.

#3 Elina Svitolina vs Karolina Pliskova

Elina Svitolina

Svitolina will go into the French Open as the 15th seed. The 29-year-old from Ukraine is a former quarterfinalist at Roland Garros and also won the bronze medal at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Pliskova, meanwhile, is a veteran at 32 and has probably left her best years behind her. She reached the semifinal of the French Open in 2017 and has a good pedigree on clay.

However, of late, the Czech's performances have been quite ordinary and she will have to play really well to put it past Svitolina.

#2 Victoria Azarenka vs Nadia Podoroska

Victoria Azarenka

At 34, Azarenka is one of the veterans of the WTA Tour and a two-time Australian Open champion. She is also a former semifinalist at Roland Garros.

The Belarusian reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and the semifinal of the Miami Open this year. She also reached the quarterfinal of the Italian Open, and, at her age, she should be looking to maximize the opportunities that come her way at Grand Slams.

Podoroska, meanwhile, reached the semifinal at the Claycourt Major in 2020 but has not been able to reproduce that kind of performance since then. She lost in the second rounds of each of the Australian Open, Miami Open, and Madrid Open this year and reached the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Azarenka will remain the favorite in this match, but Podoroska can cause an upset to oust the veteran.

#1 Paula Badosa vs Katie Boulter

Paula Badosa

Boulter is the 26th seed at the French Open and will start as the slight favorite in this match. She won the San Diego Open last March, but her performance in the big tournaments this year has been nothing special. Reaching the fourth round of the Miami Open has been her best performance so far this season.

On the other hand, Badosa has also struggled to make deep runs into the tournaments she has entered. She reached the fourth round of the Italian Open before losing to Coco Gauff, her best performance in a tournament this season. However, the Spaniard is a former quarterfinalist at the French Open and might give Boulter a hard time.