Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka are on the course for an early French Open showdown as the Parisian crowd will likely have a chance to watch two multiple Grand Slam champions clash against each other in the second round.

Today, the French Open released the main draw of the men’s and women’s events as defending champion Swiatek starts against a qualifier, while former world No. 1 Osaka will be taking on world No. 48 Lucia Bronzetti.

Regardless of which qualifier Swiatek plays in the first round, she will be the huge favorite to win.

On the other side, Osaka – who is coming off a Rome round-of-16 outing – will also be the favorite against Bronzetti, who is just 10-15 this year. When Osaka, 26, and 25-year-old Bronzetti meet, it will be their first meeting.

Swiatek and Osaka could meet for the third time in their careers at the French Open

After Osaka defeated Swiatek in their first meeting in 2019 Toronto, the Pole got her revenge on the Japanese when she earned a 6-4 6-0 win in the 2022 Miami final.

Swiatek and Osaka may not have played much against each other but they have a great level of respect and appreciation for each other. In some of her past interviews, Osaka spoke very highly of Swiatek and her success while the Pole wished the Japanese a successful post-pregnancy return in December.

“I really like to watch them, so just from a fan perspective I’m really happy that they are coming back and I’m going to be able to see their game. Rafa obviously is a huge inspiration for me, so I just hope he’s going to play nicely,” Swiatek said in December prior to Osaka and Rafael Nadal launching their comebacks.

“Naomi, we may play against each other, so it’s pretty funny but I’m happy that she’s back and she could fulfil her other goals and now come back to playing tennis. I’m just curious how they’re going to play, if they’re going to be rusty or not but obviously they are both really experienced so I hope they’re going to go well.”