(Reuters) -The following are the dark horses for the women’s singles title at the French Open, which starts on Sunday:
JASMINE PAOLINI (ITALY)
Ranking: 4
With a second WTA 1000 title and a 2024 Olympic Games doubles gold medal under her belt since her runner-up finish at the French Open last year, Paolini will look to take the next step in her career by winning a first Grand Slam title in Paris.
Paolini’s preparations could hardly have gone any better, the 29-year-old becoming the first local woman to win her home Italian Open in 40 years when she beat 2023 U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff in the final.
At number four in the world Paolini is now ranked higher than four-times French Open champion Iga Swiatek but she is keeping a lid on expectations.
“I’m not feeling myself the favourite,” she said. “It’s always tough to play a tournament like that. Trying to stay focused on the first match and hopefully I will play more matches than one. I just want to step on court and enjoy the match and not to think too much about expectations.”
ZHENG QINWEN (CHINA)
Ranking: 8
Paris Olympics singles gold medallist Zheng is looking to follow in the footsteps of her idol Li Na, who became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam with her triumph at Roland Garros in 2011.
Zheng has shown she has what it takes to compete for the highest honours but the 2024 Australian Open finalist has failed to progress beyond the fourth round at the French Open, and went out in the third round last year.
Zheng, who wields a similarly powerful forehand to Li, arrives in Paris on the back off a good run at the Italian Open, where she lost to Coco Gauff in the semi-finals.
JELENA OSTAPENKO (LATVIA)
Ranking: 21
Having won the French Open in 2017, Ostapenko has a strong clay pedigree and last month became the first woman to defeat a world number one and number two at the same claycourt event since Serena Williams in 2012.
The 27-year-old beat Swiatek in the Stuttgart quarter-finals before defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the final, and with an all-or-nothing style of play Ostapenko could be one of the most dangerous floaters in the draw.
NAOMI OSAKA (JAPAN)
Ranking: 49
Winning L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo tournament is a far cry from lifting trophies at Melbourne Park and Flushing Meadows but Osaka’s victory in the WTA 125 event will have done her confidence the world of good.
The 27-year-old Japanese player returned to action in January last year after a 15-month maternity break and her victory over Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan at the claycourt event was her first title since winning the Australian Open in 2021.
Osaka no longer carries the same threat as she did from late 2018 to early 2021, when she racked up four Grand Slam titles, and she has never gone beyond the third round at Roland Garros.
However, she showed glimpses of her best at last year’s event, where she had a match point against eventual champion Swiatek before losing the second-round encounter.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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