Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek land in same half of Roland Garros women’s draw

The 2025 Roland Garros women’s draw is set and full of intriguing match-ups, with top seed Aryna Sabalenka and defending champion Iga Swiatek both landing in a stacked top half.

Sabalenka was guaranteed to lead the draw as the WTA No. 1, but Swiatek’s recent drop from No. 2 to No. 5 made her placement a mystery leading up to Thursday’s draw ceremony. The former No. 1 and three-time defending champion could have faced Sabalenka as early as the quarterfinals, but Swiatek instead landed in the second quarter anchored by newly-minted No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini.

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Paolini is fresh off a WTA 1000 tournament victory at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the run bumping Swiatek out of the Top 4 following her third-round loss to Danielle Collins at the Foro Italico. Paolini will open against Yuan Yue, while Swiatek will play her first-rounder against Rebecca Sramkova—with a potential second round against resurgent 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Sabalenka’s quarter provides a projected Rome rematch against Zheng Qinwen, who scored her first meeting over the world No. 1 in seven tries. Sabalenka reached the quarterfinals and semifinals of her last two Roland Garros appearances and will play her first match against Kamila Rakhimova. Zheng gets a tough path starting with 2021 Roland Garros finalist Anastasia Pavluyuchenkova, and she could face rising star Alexandra Eala in the second round.

Eala has been one of the biggest stories of the 2025 season, the Filipina teenager storming into the Miami Open semifinals with wins over Australian Open Madison Keys and Swiatek, ultimately pushing eventual finalist Jessica Pegula through three tough sets. Eala will make her Roland Garros debut against Emiliana Arango.

In the bottom half of the draw, former No. 1 Naomi Osaka gets a popcorn first-rounder against No. 10 seed Paula Badosa, who missed most of the clay-court swing due to injury. Osaka held match point against eventual champion Swiatek at last year’s tournament and is coming off a fourth-round finish in Rome.

Osaka and Badosa are in the same quarter as 2024 semifinalist Mirra Andreeva, who will open against Cristina Buçsa, and No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula, who opens against Anca Todoni.

Americans Coco Gauff and Madison Keys headline the bottom quarter, No. 2-seeded Gauff looking to build on back-to-back WTA 1000 finals in Madrid and Rome with a first-rounder against Australia’s Olivia Gadecki. Keys, seeded seventh, is playing her first major tournament as a Grand Slam champion, having opened the season with an Australian Open victory over Sabalenka. She will face a qualifier in her first round.