Top 10 WTA players with the most French Open match wins
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10. Venus Williams (48 wins)
The American has played 72 matches in her career at the clay courts in Paris to reach her impressive tally of wins. Longevity definitely explains why Venus makes the top 10. Venus made her debut in France way back in 1997 and has competed in every French Open since, except the 2011 edition due to injury.
In addition, she has not had the most success at Roland Garros. Her best finish was in 2002 as she lost to her sister in straight sets in the final. She is also a four time quarter-finalist of the Grand Slam, however the last time she made it to that stage of the tournament was back in 2006. For the past four consecutive years she has not made it past the first round.
9. Martina Navratilova (51 wins)
WTA legend Navratilova made her Roland Garros debut in 1981 with her final appearance coming in 2004. The former World number one only lost on eleven occasions during her time on the red clay in France, winning the Slam twice in 1982 and 1984.
In 1982 she beat former World number two Andrea Jaeger in straight sets and in 1984, Navratilova triumphed against long time rival Chris Evert.
Following her 1984 victory, she also reached three consecutive finals from 1985 – 1987 losing twice to Chris Evert and once to Steffi Graf.
8. Svetlana Kuznetsova (52 wins)
Similarly to Venus Williams, longevity also explains why the Russian right-hander makes the list. WTA veteran Kuznetsova made her debut in 2003 and has participated in every tournament since. However she has not passed the first round since 2017.
She has made 19 appearances at the Grand Slam so far, reaching the quarter-finals on four occasions, the semi-finals once and the final twice. Kuznetsova had lost in the 2006 final to Justine Henin, however claimed her second Major with a straight sets victory over Dinara Safina to become the 2009 French Open Champion.
7. Monica Seles (54 wins)
A third of Monica Seles Grand Slam titles were French Open titles as she won the Major three years in a row from 1990 to 1992. Seles’s three back-to-back wins were even more impressive as they all came before her 19th birthday. The victory in 1990 was her first ever Grand Slam title and she also broke the record for the youngest French Open champion in history as she was 16 and a half years old, although the record was later broken by Martina Hingis.
She also reached the final an additional time in 1998, losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in three sets. She also made the semi-finals and quarter-finals three times each, only losing eight times at Roland Garros.
Her number of match wins could have been even higher if it was not for a knife attack from a Steffi Graf fan in Hamburg one month prior to the tournament in 1993.
6. Maria Sharapova (56 wins)
The former WTA World number recorded only 12 losses at Roland Garros. She is a two-time winner of the tournament having won in 2012 and 2014.
The win in 2012, where Sharapova defeated Italian Sara Errani in the final, meant that she became only one of ten women to complete a Career Grand Slam. She nearly made it a hat-trick of wins, repeating Monica Seles’s feat, however lost in the final in 2013 to Serena Williams.
5. Conchita Martinez (62 wins)
The Spaniard takes the fifth spot on the list mainly thanks to her longevity and consistency in the tournament. She competed in the tournament for 18 years consecutively, making her debut in 1988, with her final appearance coming in 2005.
On only four occasions she failed to pass the third round. She made her way into the quarter-finals a staggering seven times, which includes five quarter-finals in five consecutive years from 1989 – 1993. Her best finish came in 2000 when she reached the final, losing to France’s Mary Pierce in straight sets.
4. Serena Williams (69 wins)
The 23 time Grand Slam winner has won the French Open title on three occasions, last winning the tournament in 2015. She has 14 defeats alongside her 69 match wins, which Serena may yet add to as she still competes today.
Since her debut in 1988, she has made 19 appearances in Paris reaching the quarter-finals and beyond ten times. The last time this occurred was back in 2016 where WTA legend competed in the final, losing to Spaniard Garbiñe Muguruza 7–5, 6–4.
3. Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (72 wins)
The Spaniard made 16 consecutive appearances at the Spring Grand Slam from 1987-2002, with an extremely impressive record. She only failed to reach the quarter-finals stage on three occasions.
She is a six-time finalist, winning the Major three times becoming the first ever Spanish woman to lift the trophy in Paris. She won the title in 1989, 1994 and as previously mentioned in 1998, beating Monica Seles to the title.
2. Chris Evert (72 wins)
The former World number one has been pipped to the number 1 spot but only just. Throughout her career, Evert lost just six times at the French Open – the fewest on this top ten list.
The American won 7 of her 18 Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros, winning her maiden title back in 1974. Titles followed in 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983 and 1985.
Her final French Open title and third consecutive final in Paris was in 1986 against long-time rival Navratilova. She won the match in three sets 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to claim her final ever Major title victory. The win also meant that Evert had won a Grand Slam title for a 13th consecutive year, an Open Era record.
1. Stefanie Graf (84 wins)
Germany’s Graf won 6 of her 22 Major’s at the French Open, making 16 appearances over her 17 years competing in Grand Slams. Along with her 84 wins she only registered 10 defeats on Parisian dirt.
She failed to reach the quarter-finals and beyond on just three occasions which were all before her first ever win at the French Major. For 12 consecutive years, from 1986 – 1997, she appeared in at least the quarter-final draw, reaching the final a remarkable eight times in those 12 years, winning five of them.
She won her first title in 1987 after defeating Navratilova in the final in a classic three set match which finished 8-6 in the third. This was quickly followed by her second title in 1988, where she beat 17 year old Natasha Zvereva 6-0, 6-0 – the the only ‘double bagel’ in a Major final since 1911.
Triumphs followed in 1993, 1995 and 1996 respectively. Graf’s last title win in Paris came in 1999 after missing the 1998 tournament due to injury. Graf recovered from a set and a break down in the second set to defeat the top ranked Martina Hingis in three sets to win the 1999 title.
The German became the first ever player in the open era to overcome the first, second, and third ranked players in the same Grand Slam tournament after she also ousted Davenport and Monica Seles in Paris.
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