French Open: Early Rounds

Two rounds of play in Paris are complete, and the French Open singles draws are reduced to 32 each. The majority of the top players have survived but the women's draw is without its top 2 seeds, while newly crowned Aussie Open champ Wawrinka has been dismissed.  Also of note, in form young guns Dimitrov and Nishikori have been dismissed as well as Indian Wells champ Pennetta.

On the American side, who would have guessed there would more men remaining in the draw than women?  And that those 2 women would be the out-of-form Stephens and the teenaged Townsend?

American Men (8-5)
Still alive: 10-Isner, Sock, Young
Won one: Johnson, Querrey
First round losers: Klahn, Russell, q-Ginepri
Seeds beaten: 21-Almagro (Sock, ret.), 26-Lopez (Young)

This is an encouraging result for the men, especially on their weakest surface.  Young reaches the 3rd round and beats a seeded player for the second consecutive major.  Sock, after beating Johnson in straight sets, plays Lajovic for a right to take on Nadal.  You'd think he'd favored against the Serb.  Querrey had a nice win against Volandri but then lost in straights to Tursunov.  And Isner has survived with a 4-1 tiebreak record.

American Women (9-12)
Still alive: 15-Stephens, w-Townsend
Won one: 1-Serena, 29-Venus, Lepchenko, Riske, Vandeweghe
First round losers: Keys, McHale, Davis, King, Rogers, Tatishvili, q-Min
Seeds beaten: 20-Cornet (Townsend)

This was a step back for the American women.  Obviously their headliners the Williams sisters were upset early, but hardly any of the youngsters stepped forward.  Obviously Townsend is a huge success story and Stephens pulling her game from the muck to two matches is a positive but overall this isn't good.  Especially standing out are McHale loss to Vesnina while holding match point and Riske failing to take out Mladenovic after the latter beat Li.  Those are the matches you've got to win to move up in your career.  Keys, however, did put up a decent showing against Errani, a poor draw at this event.

Overall Seeds Out
Men R1: 3-Wawrinka, 9-Nishikori, 11-Dimitrov, 16-Haas, 21-Almagro, 30-Pospisil
Men R2: 15-Youzhny, 26-Lopez
Women R1: 2-Li, 13-Wozniacki, 17-Vinci, 25-Kanepi, 30-Koukalova
Women R2: 1-Serena, 12-Pennetta, 16-Lisicki, 20-Cornet, 21-Flipkens, 24-Pavlyuchenkova, 29-Venus, 32-Vesnina

So 8 men's seeds are out and 13 women's seeds are out.  The 8 men's seeds eliminated is slightly lower than usual and it is augmented by the retirements of Haas and Almagro.  Last year's French saw only 5 men's seeds lose in the first round and NONE in the second.  The 13 seeded women out is slightly above average and equals the French Open last year.

Unseeded Players Remaining
Men Direct Entry: Jack Sock (USA), Dusan Lajovic (SRB), Ivo Karlovic (CRO), Donald Young (USA), Radek Stepanek (CZE), Marcel Granollers (ESP), Martin Klizan (SVK)
Men Qualifiers: Leonardo Mayer (ARG)
Women Direct Entry: Garbine Muguruza (ESP), Anna Schmiedlova (SVK), Mona Barthel (GER), Paula Ormaecha (ARG), Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO), Johanna Larsson (SWE), Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (ESP), Julia Glushko (ISR), Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP), Kristina Mladenovic (FRA)
Women Qualifier: Kiki Bertens (NED)
Women Wildcard: Pauline Parmentier (FRA), Taylor Townsend (USA)

-Quite a bit of young blood among those names
-One of Muguruza, Schmiedlova, Parmentier, and Barthel will reach a maiden major quarterfinal
-Former boys FO champs still in the draw are Gasquet, Monfils, Cilic, and Klizan
-Former girls AO champs still in the draw are Radwanska, Halep, and Mladenovic
-Ivanovic, Kuznetsova, and Sharapova are the only women's former champions remaining.  Federer and Nadal both remain in the men's draw.
-Two quarterfinalists from last year have been knocked out of each draw: Wawrinka, Haas, Serena, and Kirilenko, plus Azarenka withdrew.

Nadal and Djokovic remain the favorites on the men's side and Sharapova is now the big favorite on the women's side with Radwanska and Halep the two highest seeds remaining.  But it is certainly not out of the question that she gets knocked out, opening the door for perhaps a new champion, unless you consider '09 champ Kuznetsova a threat (she plays Kvitova next).