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R1 popcorn: Svitolina fresh from Rome win

Krejcikova-Baptiste another standout first round battle

Elina Svitolina / Quatrième jour d'entraînement - Roland-Garros 2026
©Clément Mahoudeau / FFT
 - Dan Imhoff

In-form seventh seed Elina Svitolina faces a daunting and familiar foe in the opening round of Roland-Garros 2026 - the last woman to have stopped her before she charged to the Rome title last week.

➡️ Roland-Garros 2026 women's singles draw

The 2021 champion, Barbora Krejcikova, and 2023 finalist Jasmine Paolini will also need to hit the ground running, while 17th seed Iva Jovic faces a battle of young hopes, and 12th seed Linda Noskova meets a former world No.3.

These are five opening-round showdowns for tennis fans to put on their radars.

Elina Svitolina (7) vs Anna Bondar

For the fourth time in five Grand Slam first rounds, Svitolina will square off against Hungary’s Anna Bondar.

The ledger reads 2-2 between the two, with the Ukrainian – a five-time quarterfinalist in Paris, having claimed the first two meetings in the opening round at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon last year.

World No.58 Bondar turned the tables in last year’s US Open first round and repeated the dose in straight sets en route to the fourth round at the Madrid WTA 1000 event last month.

It marks Svitolina’s last defeat before she secured her third Rome trophy on Saturday.

Iva Jovic (17) vs Alexandra Eala

Between them they’ve contested just 11 majors and in the opening round in Paris, two of the tour’s most talked about prospects, Jovic and Alexandra Eala, will meet for the first time.

The 17th seed Jovic sits just one spot off her career-best ranking following a start to the season that includes a maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at Melbourne Park, while the Philippines’ Eala arrives as the world No.38.

Just two years Eala’s junior, the 18-year-old Jovic will need to contend not just with her left-handed opponent but with an expectedly strong Filipino contingent cheering on their charge.

Jasmine Paolini (13) vs Dayana Yastremska

Seven times this pair has locked horns and while the head-to-head reads 6-1 in former world No.4 Paolini’s favour, Dayana Yastremska arrives in stronger recent form on clay.

A finalist at Roland-Garros in 2024, Italy’s Paolini has struggled to emulate those same heights on the clay this year with a 2-3 record, while Ukraine’s Yastremska claimed the Parma WTA title last week over former world No.2 Krejcikova.

While Paolini boasts the superior head-to-head record, she hasn’t faced the world No.45 since 2023.

Jasmine Paolini / Finale Roland-Garros 2024
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFT

Hailey Baptiste (26) vs Barbora Krejcikova

One blinding fortnight in Madrid has put sweetly swinging Hailey Baptiste in the fray as one of the most feared lower seeds in the women’s draw.

The 24-year-old American had the run of her life in the Spanish capital where she took down seeds Paolini, Belinda Bencic and world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka to reach the semifinals, but she’ll need to be on her game from the off against former champion Krejcikova in Paris.

The Czech, who snared the first of two singles majors at Court Philippe-Chatrier five years ago, continued her comeback from injury with a runner-up showing at the Parma WTA 250 event. The pair has split two previous meetings but haven’t played since 2024.

Linda Noskova (12) vs Maria Sakkari

Back-to-back claycourt quarterfinals – including a win over Coco Gauff in Madrid – has Czech 12th seed Noskova warming to the task in Paris where she has yet to pass the second round.

The 21-year-old and former world No.3 Maria Sakkari – a semifinalist in 2021, the same year Noskova claimed the junior crown – own a win each in the head-to-head, but both on hard court.

Following the Australian Open, Greece’s 48th-ranked Sakkari toppled Paolini and Iga Swiatek en route to the Doha semifinals.