Upstarts make their way into the round of 16

Poise and Grit 👌

Elina Avanesyan picks up another top ten win, defeating 7th seed Zheng in a gripping tiebreak to reach the Round of 16 in Paris for the 2nd straight year!#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/0dO6mDt83r

— wta (@WTA) June 1, 2024

Six unseeded women and one determined qualifier join some of the tour's most distinguished players in the 2024 French Open round of 16 draw. 

There were three upsets (on paper) in the third round. Elisabetta Cocciaretto defeated Liudmila Samsonova (17), and Emma Navarro (22) defeated Madison Keys (7). Keys was impressive on clay this week, and--not to take anything away from Navarro, but--the 7th seed sustained a hip injury during her third round match, which obviously hampered her somewhat. And then there was Elina Avanesyan, who upset Zheng Qinwen in a thrilling three-set match.

The exciting player of the week, however, was qualifier Olga Davilovic. Davilovic--who has had to deal with some significant injury issues--won three qualifying rounds, then proceeded to take out Martina Trevisan, who can be a pretty tough opponent. She then upset 11th seed Danielle Collins, arguably the hottest player of the season. And in the third round, she defeated Donna Vekic, who had upset 18th seed Marta Kostyuk. 

Here is the round of 16 singles draw:

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Anastasia Potapova
Olga Danilovic (Q) vs. Marketa Vondrousova (5)
Coco Gauff (3) vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
Clara Tauson vs. Ons Jabeur (8)
Elina Avanesyan vs. Jasmine Paolini (12)
Elina Svitolina (15) vs. Elena Rybakina (4)
Varvara Gracheva vs. Mirra Andreeva
Emma Navarro (22) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2)

Iga Swiatek is, of course, the defending champion, and she has won the French Open three times. She also won Rome and Madrid this year, and is therefore going for two triples. Swiatek was put to a mighty test by Naomi Osaka in the second round, and she somehow passed it. Two of her nemeses, Alona Ostapenko (4-0 against Swiatek) and Barbora Krejcikova (2-5 against Swiatek), are out of the tournament, but there are two other players--Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina--who have beaten her. 

Swiatek is 8-3 against Sabalenka, but she is 4-1 against her on clay. The defending champion is 2-4 against Rybakina, and 0-2 against her on clay (however, one of those losses was a retirement). 

Both Gauff (2022) and Vondrousova (2021) have made it to the final at Roland Garros.