World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a surprising upset in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open. Based on her very high standards, the three-time major champion is off to a reasonably good start to the season. Sabalenka, who has always been a force to be reckoned with on hard court, made it to the final of the Australian Open earlier in the year and won the Miami Open a few months later. The Belarusian also won the Madrid Open during this clay season for the third time in her career.

Unfortunately, Sabalenka could not follow up on this terrific win in the Italian Open. After winning her first three matches in Rome, Aryna fell to world No. 8 Qinwen Zheng 6-4 6-3. She will now focus on the French Open, which she has never won in her illustrious career.

For the last five years, the major clay championship at Roland Garros has revolved mainly around one player: world No. 4 Iga Swiatek. The Polish powerhouse has won this tournament four out of the last five years in dominant fashion on several occasions. However, Swiatek seems more vulnerable than usual on her favorite surface in 2025. The 23-year-old has played in three clay tournaments this year and has not won any of them. One of those losses included a pretty stunning one to current world No. 2 Coco Gauff.

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Swiatek losing to the former US Open champion is not all that surprising, but dropping this match 6-1 6-1 raised many eyebrows. Nevertheless, based on recent history at Roland Garros, the five-time major champion is still the favorite. Sabalenka has also sufficiently earned her status as one of the tournament's top five contenders. The world No. 1 has gradually improved on clay throughout her career and made it to a French Open semifinal in 2023.

Other names to watch for this tournament, besides Sabalenka and Swiatek, are Gauff, who is in tremendous form, world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini, and rising Russian superstar Mirra Andreeva. Unfortunately, 2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova will not compete at this year's French Open because of a back injury. But the field has caught up to Swiatek for the first time in a while, and it'll be exciting to see how Iga responds.

Overall, Aryna Sabalenka might be disappointed by Wednesday's result. However, winning the Madrid Open indicates that the world No. 1 expects nothing less than to walk away from Roland Garros with her fourth slam title.