{"id":105206,"date":"2026-05-23T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=105206"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:36:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:36:03","slug":"five-best-womens-first-round-matches-french-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/05\/23\/five-best-womens-first-round-matches-french-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Best Women’s First-Round Matches at the French Open including Coco Gauff vs Taylor Townsend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grand Slams are action-packed from first serve to championship point. With the French Open women’s draw<\/a> out, we can look at which first-round matches are the most exciting from the start.\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Daria Kasatkina vs Zeynep Sonmez<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a tough start to the season, Daria Kasatkina has found some form on the clay courts, winning a WTA 125 and reaching the quarterfinals of Strasbourg. A former French Open<\/a> semifinalist, Kasatkina has potential for a good run but her first-round opponent, Zeynep Sonmez, is far from an easy out. Sonmez has been slowly climbing up the rankings this year and is coming into her own on the WTA Tour. Kasatkina is far more experienced, but Sonmez is still something of an unknown quantity on Tour and certainly could challenge Kasatkina. It wouldn\u2019t be at all surprising if this match went to three long sets, punctuated by extended rallies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. (17) Iva Jovic vs Alexandra Eala<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In the first meeting between two up-and-coming stars, Iva Jovic and Alexandra Eala will face off for a spot in the second round. This matchup was instantly the standout in the draw, with both players on the rise and rapidly improving. All of Jovic\u2019s losses on clay this year have been close three-setters, and she has become a consistent presence in the list of seeds. Eala\u2019s recent results haven\u2019t been as strong and she just missed out on seeding, but that could be a blessing in disguise in alleviating some pressure. These two players know each other well, another factor that adds to the match\u2019s intrigue, and both possess similar gamestyles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. (4) Coco Gauff vs Taylor Townsend<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Defending champion Coco Gauff has her work cut out for her from the get-go as she takes on Taylor Townsend in the first round. While Townsend\u2019s singles results haven\u2019t progressed past early rounds lately, she\u2019s been on a tear in doubles and can always raise her level on the singles court, providing a tough test for Gauff. Gauff is coming off a tumultuous run to the final in Rome and has shown that she can pull through the toughest of matches, an asset she may need in her opening round. Gauff has never successfully defended a big title, though, and starting off with a straightforward win is an important step forward. She should be able to close this out, but Townsend is far from a comfortable opponent.<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. (12) Linda Noskova vs Maria Sakkari<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Coming off quarterfinal runs in Stuttgart and Madrid and sitting at a career high of No. 12 in the world, Linda Noskova is in excellent form heading into Roland Garros. But Noskova has never been past the second round of this tournament, and her first-round opponent Maria Sakkari is a former semifinalist and has much more experience on the biggest stages. Sakkari\u2019s clay results haven\u2019t been up to her best standard this year, but she proved with her <\/span>run<\/span><\/a> to the Doha semifinals earlier this year that she is still capable of her best tennis, and she can certainly challenge Noskova here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

5. (26) Hailey Baptiste vs Barbora Krejcikova<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One of the biggest breakout stars of the 2026 clay season was Hailey Baptiste. Her semifinal run in Madrid included a monumental <\/span>defeat<\/span><\/a> of World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, and in Rome she lost to eventual champion Elina Svitolina. She\u2019s been in excellent form and would be the favorite against most players right now, but in the first round she\u2019s been drawn against former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova. Krejcikova has been out with injury for most of the season, but last week she made a run to the final of a WTA 125, and a healthy Krejcikova can beat anyone, especially on clay. Baptiste is the favorite by seeding, but when at her best<\/a> Krejcikova is one of the best players in the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grand Slams are action-packed from first serve to championship point. With the French Open women’s draw out, we can look at which first-round matches are the most exciting from the start.\/span> 1. Daria Kasatkina vs Zeynep Sonmez After a tough start to the season, Daria Kasatkina has found some form on the clay courts, winning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5769,"featured_media":68019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,9,4],"tags":[43702,16553,3976,2747,416,7684,42396,17703,305,58,18884],"class_list":["post-105206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-french-open","category-news","category-wta","tag-2026-french-open","tag-alexandra-eala","tag-barbora-krejcikova","tag-coco-gauff","tag-daria-kasatkina","tag-hailey-baptiste","tag-iva-jovic","tag-linda-noskova","tag-maria-sakkari","tag-taylor-townsend","tag-zeynep-sonmez"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5769"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105206"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105211,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105206\/revisions\/105211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}