The French Open can throw up some surprising names from year-to-year. The surface can have something to do with that.
Here are five who could surprise at Roland Garros.
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CARLA SUAREZ NAVARRO (SPA)
It would not come as much of a surprise these days, but given her size limitations, Suarez Navarro would be a popular winner in France. Coming in at just 5-4, the Spaniard plays tough against taller opponents — but packs the purest one-handed backhand in the women's game.
She is in the form of her life, but without a title to show for it. Only current or former world No. 1's have brought about her downfall in her past four outings, where she has reached the final of WTA Premier events in Miami (hard) and Rome (clay). Twice a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros, including last year, the world No. 8 will be keen to convert her form into a greater showing on the big stage.
She comes into the tournament as one of the fittest propositions in the field, especially given her prowess on the doubles court, too, with partner Garbine Muguruza — the pair reached finals in Dubai and Madrid this season. Whether that proves to be debilitating or match-hardening experience, time will tell.
ANNA KAROLINA SCHMIEDLOVA (SVK)
Schmiedlova is enjoying her breakout season on the WTA Tour. She is backing up her strong clay-court season in 2014 with another impressive show on the dirt in 2015, proving herself to be a surface specialist. After her run to the French Open third round last season, Schmiedlova suffered seven straight losses before finally banking her next win in October.
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In 2015, she has already reached two clay-court finals — including winning the title in Katowice, Poland. Her successes have built her ranking back up to No. 51 — and she will prove to be a tough unseeded proposition. Schmiedlova's numbers on service return are strong — winning just under half of the points when she is receiving.
She also averages over four double faults per match, a quirk that needs arresting, although her strong first-service percentage this season of 66 gets her out of trouble. Schmiedlova has registered some great wins on the clay in her flourishing career — beating Alize Cornet (ranked No. 24 at the time), Venus Williams (No. 29) and Yanina Wickmayer (No. 41). She has not been a first-round loser in either of her two visits to Paris so far, so expect that trend to continue in 2015.
TEREZA SMITKOVA (CZE)
One gets the feeling Smitkova's finest quality so far in her career is her competitiveness. Already with an appearance in the last 16 at Wimbledon to her name, the 20-year-old is a bit of a winner. Somehow she is yet to even appear in the main draw is Roland Garros, narrowly falling short in qualifying at her only attempt in 2014.
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So far in 2015, she defeated Lucie Safarova and almost toppled another of her compatriots, Lucie Hradecka, in Prague — more than enough signs she is capable of matching it with the best on the surface.
Her WTA profile claims she prefers hard/grass surfaces, but she has shown enough that her overall game is worthy of a run in Paris.
MADISON BRENGLE (USA)
She heads into the major with brittle confidence after some heavy humblings in recent weeks, but that aside, the 25-year-old is definitely capable of arresting what is a woeful French Open record. She has tried qualifying for the major seven times, and only twice made it through to the second round of the pre-event. Her one time in the 128-player field, she lost to a qualifier, fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
However, she was nowhere near her current ranking of No. 36 at all of her previous visits to the Paris major. Like Suarez Navarro, she is 5-4, but has solid numbers on serve, winning an impressive 49.3 percent of points behind her second ball in 28 matches this season. Second serves are often more susceptible on clay, so bringing a confident one can improve one's fortunes 10-fold.
In her recent defeats, her second serve numbers have been lacking. If she can get her numbers back up in that aspect, she has a chance to do some damage.
TIMEA BACSINSZKY (SUI)
She has gone from wannabe to rock star in no time at all. In 2015, she has won hard-court titles in Acapulco, Monterrey and was a runner-up in Shenzhen. In only one tournament has she not won multiple matches, and that was when she came up against Maria Sharapova in Madrid.
She has converted her hard-court form to the clay season, banking wins over Sabine Lisicki (No. 22) and Karolina Pliskova (No. 12) in Rome to be 4-3 on the surface. Her French Open record reads dismally with five second-round exits, but last year she had to qualify — and was narrowly beaten by eventual quarterfinalist Suarez Navarro.
She also beat one-time Paris finalist Sam Stosur comprehensively on the dirt in Estoril in the weeks prior. Another string to her bow is a good tie-break record (6-2) in 2015.