Apart from the legendary Novak Djokovic, no players remaining at Roland Garros have won more Grand Slam singles titles than Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka.
The current and former world No.1s, two of the world's highest-paid female athletes, will clash at Court Philippe Chatrier for a place in the third round.
The form guide does not favour Osaka, whose four major singles titles have come on the hard courts of Melbourne Park and Flushing Meadows.
She’ll be confronting a player on a 13-match win streak on clay, who is compiling increasingly jaw-dropping numbers at Roland Garros, and who targets a fourth title in the past five years at this event.
But Osaka insists she is steeled for the challenge of halting Swiatek’s seemingly unstoppable momentum.
“I definitely do feel like it's a test to see where I'm at, but I wouldn't say I have low expectations of myself,” said Osaka, yet to face a top-five player since returning to tennis as a mother.
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“I'm a person that kind of thinks that I can win every match that I play. That's kind of gotten me this far. I would never play a match thinking lowly of myself.”
“I'm honestly really excited. I watched her a lot when I was pregnant. I think it's an honour to play her in the French Open, because she's won more than once here, for sure.”
While Swiatek – also a four-time major winner and the two-time defending champion in Paris – has risen to become a Grand Slam force and dominant world No.1, Osaka’s last major trophy came more than three years ago, at Australian Open 2021.
Since then, even winning matches at major tournaments had become difficult; she arrived in Paris on a four-match losing streak at Slams, her last win coming almost two-and-a-half years ago.
Osaka admitted this was why she tightened up against Lucia Bronzetti in round one.
She’d played an excellent first set and was a point away from a 5-0 lead in the third, only to find herself suddenly serving to stay in the match.
“I was kind of, in my head, thinking like, I didn't win a match in Australia so I'd really love to win one here. Obviously that wasn't a good train of thought. I kind of focused on it a bit too much instead of trying to play point by point,” she said after escaping 6-1 4-6 7-5.
“I think towards the end I was able to erase that thought from my head. But I would love to not have to go through that roller coaster again.”
Osaka and Swiatek have played twice before.
The first time was in Toronto in 2019, when Osaka was world No.2 and Swiatek an 18-year-old qualifier. Osaka won 7-6(4) 6-4, but was glowing in her praise of the rising Polish talent.
“The most impressive thing that I saw tonight was her movement. Like, she's a crazy good mover, just sliding,” Osaka said. “Hopefully I can learn that from her.”
In their next meeting, almost three years later in the Miami final, Swiatek dominated.
Her 6-4 6-0 triumph marked the first time Osaka had ever lost a big final – the Japanese was previously 6-0 in Grand Slam and WTA 1000 finals.
Swiatek was then on the cusp of becoming world No.1 and in the early stages of a 37-match winning streak. She has since spent more than 100 weeks in top spot, and continues to compile similarly impressive numbers at Roland Garros.
She routed Leolia Jeanjan for the loss of just three games in round one, her 29th win in 31 outings at the tournament.
Like Osaka, she was looking forward to the blockbuster match-up between two of the sport’s highest-profile players.
“Really impressed (with her comeback). She's a great person, and her game style is pretty fun to watch as well,” Swiatek said.
“I haven't actually played against Naomi obviously on clay, so we'll see how that's gonna go. We need to prepare tactically, for sure. But all these matches that we played on hard court were always really intense and tough.
“I'm just glad that she came back and she's playing more tournaments even than before the break. And, yeah, happy that she's playing well, as well.”