Paula Badosa is the second-highest ranked player left in the women’s draw and one of only three top-10 seeds to have survived through to the third round.
And despite having to contend with added attention and expectation now accompanying her progress, the Spaniard is performing solidly.
Badosa rebounded from a break down in the third set to defeat Slovene Kaja Juvan, which might not seem especially impressive, given Juvan’s status as the world No.68 and the fact Badosa was in control of the first set at 5-2, only to twice fail to serve it out.
But the stats – 35 winners against 25 unforced errors – reflected a relatively clean, assured performance against last week’s Strasbourg finalist on Court Suzanne Lenglen, and one that put her a win away from a return to the second week in Paris.
Badosa, in a post-match interview with Tennis Channel, alluded to struggles during the clay-court season. But that too seems a slightly harsh critique, given she has now won eight of 12 matches on clay in 2022.
Veronika Kudermetova stands between Badosa and a place in the last 16, a stage she has reached at three of the last four major tournaments. She was a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros last year.
"To learn how to play as a favourite, it's a challenge," the world No.4 told Tennis Channel.
"Right now, everything is very new for me. I’m feeling like every match that I go in here, I’m the favourite. So that stress me a little bit, to be honest, because I’m not used to that.
"That’s my big challenge and goal this year – to maintain myself, to try to play my game no matter who is in front (of me), and to try to deal with all these nerves and to manage with all these new experiences I’m having on court."
This newfound favouritism, while not at the level of the irrepressible Iga Swiatek, was reflected in our “expert picks” piece ahead of Roland Garros, where Australian greats Todd Woodbridge, Alicia Molik and Casey Dellacqua all predicted Badosa to be a strong factor in Paris.
EXPERT PICKS: Who will triumph at Roland Garros in 2022?
"I think it's all about Swiatek… (but) the outsider for me would be Badosa; her ball-striking is as good as any out there," Woodbridge said. "She's potentially ready to go up another step; let's keep an eye on her."
Molik went further when picking her title favourite.
"I'm going to take a bit of a side-step here, and go with Badosa. I feel like she's got a game that can blossom on clay and it could blossom any French Open, and I just give her a chance at this one," the former world No.8 said.
"If she's confident, she does have a game that can do a lot of damage to a player like Swiatek. Not many people can; I feel like she can."
So, is Badosa confident?
She has won both her meetings with Kudermetova this year; a 6-3 6-2 triumph at Indian Wells was followed by an even more commanding 6-3 6-0 win in Madrid.
Despite falling early in Rome and Madrid, she did reach the semifinals in Stuttgart and quarters in Charleston. And prior to the clay season, she flourished during the Sunshine Swing and began her year with a WTA title in Sydney.
Winning has been a habit lately; dating back to the beginning of April last year, her record stands at 61-22.
"Maybe I'm not on my best level right now, but at least I fight until the last point, and that's what gave me the match today," said Badosa, who opened her tournament with a 6-2 6-0 win over Fiona Ferro.
"These kind of matches (like against Juvan) give you a lot of confidence that I'm already like competitive again. That's very important for me, because maybe I was struggling a little bit on that.
"Sometimes I don't want to complain or be that emotional on court, but sometimes I need it to give everything and to push myself. Today I think I was back on that competitive spirit, and I'm very happy about that."
Along with rediscovering that fighting spirit has been the recognition she needs to be kinder to herself.
This is especially important, given she referenced memories of feeling “very, very sad” after her successful return to Court Philippe Chatrier in her first-round match against Ferro.
A year earlier, on the same court, she missed a golden opportunity last year to reach her first major semifinal, falling to the lower-ranked Tamara Zidansek 8-6 in the third set.
"I have been struggling being the opposite, so what I'm trying to improve is to be kind to myself and always send these positive messages no matter what," she revealed.
"It's something I'm really working on and that I did very well the first round.
"Today I think I had very tough moments, and even though that I was maybe a little bit stressed, I was sending positive messages to myself. So I'm really happy about that, that I'm improving on that aspect.
"For me, that's more important than a win."