Women to watch

Simon Briggs

Dead cert

Simona Halep The world No1 finally broke her grand-slam duck in Paris. Since an early exit from Wimbledon, she has reached the final of her past two events, winning in Montreal and finishing as runner-up in Cincinnati. Halep

(right) has matured into a woman for all seasons and surfaces, combining great speed and defensive skills with the mentality to go for winners when the opening is there. Will take some stopping.

Dark horse

Kiki Bertens Perhaps not such a well-kept secret now after her victory in Cincinnati, but still a relatively unappreciated talent, the 26-year-old Bertens has never reached the second week of a hard-court slam. But by beating Halep in last weekend’s final, the Dutchwoman showed that she can perform on this surface. Now standing at a career-best No13 in the world rankings, this late developer is growing into a real contender for the biggest prizes.

British hope

Johanna Konta After a grim season, there have been signs of a turnaround in recent weeks. First she handed out the heaviest defeat of Serena Williams’s career in San Jose (even if that 6-1, 6-0 mauling was later revealed to have a deeper explanation, involving the release from prison of the man who shot Williams’s sister).

And then she overcame world No 10 Jelena Ostapenko, of Latvia, her highest-ranked victim for 13 months, in Montreal. Unseeded for the tournament.

Local hero

Serena Williams The bookies’ favourite to lift the title, Williams (below) has been promoted in the seedings to No 17 as a recognition of the time she spent off the tour because of her daughter Alexis Olympia’s birth (she would have been seeded No 26 otherwise). She has lifted this title six times already, but lacks game-time on court, with only one win from three matches since she reached the Wimbledon final last month. Could do with a couple of gentle early matches.