Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the WTA Roland Garros match.
For Elena Rybakina, the opening round in Paris offers a chance to reassert herself as a serious title contender, despite a recent dip in form and having slipped out of the top 10. Elena Rybakina has been clear about her ambitions at this year’s French Open. For Julia Riera, reaching the main draw is already a notable milestone, having come through the qualifiers — but now she faces an entirely different level of challenge.
Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina has made a solid start to the clay-court season, winning six of her eight matches. She was particularly impressive in Strasbourg, where she captured the title by defeating Ludmilla Samsonova in three sets (6:1, 6:7, 6:1). Against lower-ranked players, Rybakina has been dominant. She has won nine of her last twelve matches in straight sets. Since 2020, she has consistently progressed beyond the opening round at Roland Garros.
Julia Riera
Julia Riera made it into the main draw via the qualifiers, where the level of opposition was relatively low. Her record against higher-ranked opposition is poor: she has won just 5 of her 22 matches against top-100 players, a win rate of only 23%. Although she also holds six wins from eight matches on clay this season, all those victories came against players ranked outside the top 200.
Elena Rybakina vs Julia Riera Prediction
Elena Rybakina is expected to keep Julia Riera to six or seven games at most — this match is likely to be brief and one-sided.
