Victoria Mboko got no favors in her draw for her first major as a top 10 player. Mboko, the No. 9 seed and one of the fastest risers of the past year, got the toughest French Open draw among the top women’s players, based on the average world ranking of likely opponents.
Mboko faces a tougher-than-average first-round match against No. 65 Nikola Bartunkova. Her likely second-round match is against Katerina Siniakova, who at No. 36 just missed earning a seed herself. She could have to navigate past No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 5 Jessica Pegula, and reigning champion Coco Gauff back-to-back-to-back just to reach the final.
The second major of 2026 gets underway May 24.
Who got the toughest and easiest draws for the French Open?
Best draws
No. 2 seed and reigning Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina has a favorable path to get past the quarterfinals in Paris for the first time. She won’t face any proven French Open title contenders until a potential semifinal matchup against No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek.
No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova has the best draw for the first week of the event. Anisimova won’t play anyone inside the top 100 until the third round.
Worst draw
Bartunkova and Simona Waltert – the two players in the Mboko-Siniakova section of the draw – got the worst draws in the field. To win the event, either player could face six players ranked in the top 20 and no one outside the top 36.
Best opportunity for an unseeded player
Keep an eye on the first-round match between No. 58 Anna Bondar and No. 7 Elina Svitolina. If Bondar can pull the upset against the reigning Italian Open winner, she’d have a reasonably clear path to the quarterfinals.
In the top half of the draw, No. 40 Elisabetta Cocciaretto gets a qualifier in the first round and a winnable matchup against either No. 22 Anna Kalinskaya or long-shot 2025 semifinalist Lois Boisson in the second round.
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