The French Open has thrown a huge surprise on the first day of the women's competition as Germany's Angelique Kerber lost in the first round on Sunday. The top seed lost her encounter against Ekaterina Makarova, 6-2, 6-2 in 72 minutes to throw the competition even more wide open.
Kerber could not really get her game going against Makarova, who looked in good form from the first set itself. It was a brilliant display from the Russian as she hit some incredible winners and backed that with an all-round display. With this loss, Kerber became the first top seed woman player to be knocked out in the opening round of the French Open
Makarova will head into the second round of the French Open with immense confidence after this result. But, the Russian knows that the competition will only hot up as the competition progresses ahead. And there are a number of women players, including third seed Simona Halep, who could win the French Open, which makes it even more interesting.
Halep is one of the best players in the WTA circuit, but what surprises most of her fans is her cabinet of trophies, which does not include a grand slam title. With a number of players like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova not featuring in the French Open, this could be her best chance to win the title.
However, there are some concerns as well for the Romanian superstar, who is nursing an ankle injury. It would be unfortunate for Halep if the injury costs her a chance to win the title.
Halep knows that the ride will not be easy despite Kerber getting knocked out and some big players missing from the competition. There are some wonderful players like Garbine Muguruza, Karolína Pliskova, Elina Svitolina and veteran Venus Williams among others.
Halep, despite that ankle injury, will be confident of a good show in the French Open. She has been impressive in the clay court this season, playing some sublime tennis and defeating top stars as well. Other stars in the fray are aware of the threat she brings to the clay surface.
In the three clay court tournaments Halep has featured in 2017, she has reached the finals twice and finished semifinalists in one of them. She won the Madrid Masters, defeating Kristina Mladenovic, while Halep lost to Svitolina in the finals of the Rome Masters.
There you go, she will not be short of confidence in the French Open as he starts her campaign against Jana Cepelova on Wednesday.
Halep just needs to take one match at a time, and needs to constantly improve and come up with her best tennis as the competition reaches the business end to win the title.
