Based on current clay court form, women’s side of French Open should be wide open

With Roland Garros less than a week away, Ahmed Rizvi surveys the landscape of the women's game.

While the draw for Roland Garros is wide open, Serena Williams will, as always, start the favourite. Riccardo De Luca, AP Photo

Consulting the WTA Tour form guide can be a futile pursuit, especially in the week leading to a grand slam.

Take the French Open, for example. Who would you pick as the favourite for the fortnight in Paris, based on their clay-court form this year?

There are no clear answers.

Eight clay-court events have been played across three continents, and only one woman has won twice — Angelique Kerber at Charleston and Stuttgart.

The results at the other clay events give little indication of what could happen at Roland Garros.

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Maria Sharapova is the only French Open champion to have won a title (Rome) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (the 2009 champ) was a surprise finalist in Madrid.

Petra Kvitova, the Madrid champion, has one semi-final in six visits to Roland Garros.

Germany’s Kerber has reached the fourth round in her past two visits to Paris.

But her best result at the French Open is her run to the quarter-final in 2012, when she lost to Sara Errani.

Errani, the losing finalist in 2012, won the opening clay-court event of the year, in Rio, but has a 6-4 record on the surface since.

The other clay-court title winners this year are Teliana Pereira (Bogota), Elina Svitolina (Marrakech) and Karolina Pliskova (Prague). Does anyone believe one of them will win?

Perhaps, it is best to stick with Serena Williams, form-guides be damned.

It is easy to understand why she is always the overwhelming favourite for every grand slam she decides to contest.

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