Roland Garros: Yui Kamiji aims to defend title

World No.1 Yui Kamiji will go for her third Roland Garros title when competition kicks off in Paris, France, on 7 June.

The Japanese has enjoyed a highly-successful start to the year, winning five of the six singles tournaments she competed in. Unfortunately for Kamiji, the only match she lost was the Australian Open final against world No.2 Diede de Groot.

The Dutch player, who was temporary the world No.1 this year, will be a tough-to-beat rival. She most recently won the World Team Cup alongside world No.3 Aniek van Kook to give the Netherlands a remarkable 30th title.

Germany's world No.4 Sabine Ellerbrock, the second woman to win the singles tournament at Roland Garros, will be another one to watch. Another Dutch player in attendance will be Marjolein Buis, who won the second Grand Slam of the year in 2016.

Katharina Kruger of Germany, Kgothatso Montjane of South Africa and Charlotte Famin complete the women's draw.

Buis and Kamiji won the doubles event last year and will be hoping to repeat that in 2018.

Several candidates for the men's title

Alfie Hewett may appear as the strongest candidate as he won last year's edition and currently leads the men's world rankings. But the Brit has so far only won one title in 2018, while other players have been showing strong performances coming into Roland Garros.

One of them is Shingo Kunieda, who returned to full form this year after enduring tough moments over the past 18 months. The Japanese had to undergo elbow surgery and a slow recovery process.

But it seems the new Kunieda is just as good as the old one, as he won his 41st Grand Slam title at the 2018 Australian Open. Only last week, he also led the Japanese team to their third World Team Cup title.

Argentina's world No.2 and 2016 Roland Garros champion Gustavo Fernandez will be another player to look out for. The home crowd will be hopeful of celebrating through Stephane Houdet or Nicolas Peifer.

Great Britain's Gordon Reid, Sweden's Stefan Olsson and France's Frederic Cattaneo complete the draw.

In the doubles, Houdet and Peifer are the defending champions.

Full draws and results will be available on the International Tennis Federation's website.