Gauff is seeded third and will kick off her title defense against fellow American Taylor Townsend the first round. Her projected third-round opponent is an on-fire Anastasia Potapova, who reached the Mutua Madrid Open semifinals as a lucky loser and the fourth round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia as a qualifier.
She could face another American in the quarterfinals as her projected opponent is No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova, but the 2019 semifinalist has been off the court for the entire clay-court season due to injury, playing her last match at the Miami Open in March.
In the bottom half of the draw, four-time champion Iga Swiatek may have to score a first-ever victory over 2017 winner Jelena Ostapenko in order to reach the second week. Ostapenko owns a perfect 6-0 record against the former world No. 1, and could face Swiatek as early as the third round.
