PARIS, France -- World No.1 Naomi Osaka, defending champion Simona Halep, and three-time champion Serena Williams all landed in the top half of the women's singles draw as the 2019 Roland Garros opening matches were revealed on Friday.
Top seed Osaka, who is on a 14-match winning streak at Grand Slam events, having won the 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian Open consecutively, heads the draw and will face former Top 30 player Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the first round.
FULL DRAW: View the entire field at the Roland Garros website
If Osaka gets by Schmiedlova and reaches the second round, she will face the winner of a blockbuster first-round tilt between 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko and former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka. Whoever comes out of that section could face last year's semifinalist Madison Keys, seeded 14th, in the round of 16.
The top quarter also features the newest member of the Top 10, No.8 seed Ashleigh Barty, and 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, the No.10 seed. Barty, who won the Miami Open earlier this year for her biggest career title, and Williams, who has won three of her major titles at Roland Garros, could square off in the fourth round.
Photos: Roland Garros 2019: The 32 seeds and their best French Open performance
Barty meets Jessica Pegula of the United States in the first round. Williams opens against Russia's Vitalia Diatchenko, and could meet either No.22 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada or fellow American Sofia Kenin in a challenging third-round affair.
Reigning champion @Simona_Halep will begin her title defense by taking on Ajla Tomljanovic.#RG19 pic.twitter.com/OeQTrpF2QV
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 23, 2019
The victor from the top quarter could see 3rd-seeded Halep in the semifinals, as the reigning champion heads her own quarter. Halep has powerful Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, ranked World No.47, as her first opponent in her title defense.
Should Halep make the final eight, her potential quarterfinal opponent could be one of a big-hitting trio: No.6 seed and Stuttgart champion Petra Kvitova, No.11 seed Aryna Sabalenka, or No.17 seed Anett Kontaveit. Kvitova starts against Sorana Cirstea while Sabalenka opens against one of the highest-ranked unseeded players in the field, former World No.4 Dominika Cibulkova.
The #RG19 draw is here. Find out your favorite player's path to the final! 🏆
Men’s Draw 👉 https://t.co/gaMgvLsBvX
Women’s Draw 👉 https://t.co/97adwYK74V pic.twitter.com/0viPjp0jG3— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 23, 2019
Moving into the bottom half of the draw, the first name who shows up is last year's runner-up Sloane Stephens, who is seeded No.7. Stephens will face Japan's Misaki Doi in an opening-round encounter.
Should Stephens make it to the round of 16 in Paris for the sixth time in the last eight years, she has some dangerous possible fourth-round foes: 2016 Roland Garros champion Garbiñe Muguruza, 2002 finalist Venus Williams, and Elina Svitolina.
No.9 seed Svitolina will meet Venus Williams in a tantalizing first-round battle; the two have met twice before, with Williams winning their only match on clay, at Rome in 2015. Svitolina has gone on to win the Rome title in 2017 and 2018.
Whoever emerges from that section could see No.4 seed Kiki Bertens in the quarterfinals. The Dutchwoman is at a career-high ranking after being one of the hottest players on clay of late, winning the title in Madrid and reaching the semifinals at Rome. Bertens will start against France's own Pauline Parmentier.
Bertens, however, could face the woman who beat her in Rome in the third round of Roland Garros -- No.26 seed Johanna Konta. Konta will face a qualifier in the first round. Resurgent No.15 seed Belinda Bencic is also in that section, and she will face Jessika Ponchet in the opening round.
It's a first round showdown with Pauline Parmentier for 2016 semi-finalist and No. 4 seed @kikibertens.#RG19 pic.twitter.com/hrc1dH8oUw
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 23, 2019
The bottom quarter holds Rome champion Karolina Pliskova, and the Czech will face American Madison Brengle, a quarterfinalist at Nurnberg this week, in the first round. Lurking in No. 2 seed Pliskova's section are former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and 2009 Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Pliskova could see No.5 seed Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals. Reigning Wimbledon champion Kerber, who also won the Australian Open and U.S. Open in 2016, will start her quest to complete the career Grand Slam in Paris against Russian Anastasia Potapova in the first round.