Right well the 2017 French open is well under way now and it is now deep into the 2nd week and the matches have reached the quarter final stages for both the ladies and mens.
So, let's take a quick look and see how things have progressed so far for the top seeds...
Ladies 1st Week
Well in the 1st week we had quite a few upsets and the biggest one came in the form of Angelique Kerber, the current World No.1, who so far hasn't been playing anything like the form she had shown last year to get to the position and where she won two mahors. So, here Angie was stunned in the 1st round as she faced off a nightmare opponent in Ekaterina Makarova, who beat the German in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
Dominika Cibulkova, the 5th seed and last year's WTA Championships winner, also suffered an early exit as she lost to a lucky loser in the 2nd round, Ons Jabeur in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Johanna Konta, the 7th seed and British No.1 was also dumped out early as she took on the Chinese player, Hsieh Su-wei, who stunned Konta in three sets. Madison Keys also suffered a 2nd round exit at the hands of Petra Martic in three sets. Petra Kvitova, who made her return from her knife attack ordeal last year, also exited early in the 2nd round as she was beaten Bethanie Mattek-Sands in two tiebreak sets.
2nd Week
The 2nd week has seen the exit of a few more seeds and the biggest one being the defending champion, Garbine Muguruza who was beaten in the 4th round by the French home favourite, Kristina Mladenovic in three sets. Muguruza herself after the match break down in tears at point and cited that the French crowd were tough and unfair (well they are really!).
Venus Williams also went out in the 4th round as she was defeated by the Swiss player, Timea Bacsinszky in a three set match that saw Timea reach her 3rd French open quarter final in a row. Svetlana Kuznetsova suffered a 4th round exit aswell when she was taken out by the former World No.1, Caroline Wozniacki who beat her in three sets. And lastly the former French open finalist, Sam Stosur was beaten by the unseeded Jelena Ostapenko in three sets.
As for the top seeds still remaining Simona Halep is in great form this year and she has already made it into the quarter finals after a convincing win over the Spaniard, Carla Suarez-Navarro, who she dismantled in straight sets 6-1, 6-1. Halep is considered by many to be this year's favourite to win the title, especially now given that there are no other grand slam champions left in the drawn, not to mention the absence of Serena Williams.
Elina Svitolina, who won the title in Rome just prior to the French open, is also into the last eight after she came from a break down in the final set to beat, Petra Martic of Croatia in three close sets. Svitolina also remains one of the hot favourites to take the title in Paris and she so far looks very impressive in the tournament.
Karolina Pliskova also survived her way into the 2nd week as she battled past a qualifier, Veronica Cepede Royg in a three set match, which Pliskova won 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last eight, which is good going since Pliskova has stated that clay is not her favourite surface.
Lastly, Caroline Wozniacki has made an impressive so far right into the quarter finals as she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach her 2nd French open quarter final. Caroline however next up takes on Jelena Ostapenko, who has beaten her in all three of their previous meeting, however this will be their first meeting in a slam.
QUARTER FINAL MATCH PREDICTIONS
As for the ladies quarter final matches, here are my thoughts on how they might go....
Caroline Wozniacki vs Jelena Ostapenko
This match up is a tricky one to decide on given that these two players have played three times and Ostapenko has gotten the better of the former World No.1 on each occasion. However Ostapenko is a mere 19 years of age and is inexperienced at this stage of grand slam matches whereas Wozniacki has been in two slam finals and has much more experience behind her having reached two major finals at the US Open.
So, for me it would be easy to go ahead and say that Wozniacki has the edge in terms of grand slam experience but Ostapenko has the firm edge in their head to head 3-0, so overall its a difficult one to call. So, I will go with Wozniacki but only based on her experience in the slams, however I would not be surprised if Ostapenko beat her again to reach her first slam semi final, so I could be wrong but I will go with Caroline in three sets.
Kristina Mladenovic vs Timea Bascinszky
This match could not be closer in terms of their head to heads both players are locked at 1-1, so going into this match there is alot riding for both of them. Timea is in her 3rd French open quarter final in a row whereas Mladenovic is in her first although she did previously reach the quarter finals of the US Open two years ago.
Mladenovic will no doubt go into this one with the crowd on her side and it will be very much a Partisan Parisian audience out there, so Timea will be sure to feel the pressue of that. However its hard to predict just how this one might go exactly, but on sheer momentum alone I will go with Mladenovic to come through, especially if she uses the crowd to her advantage. So, I will predict that Mladenovic wins this one in three close sets.
Elina Svitolina vs Simona Halep
This is another interesting match up, which sees the Ukrainian, Svitlona, take on the former 2014 finalist, Simona Halep and so far Svitolina has the edge in their head to head as she has won their only encounter in the final of Rome this year.
However, Svitolina has had the tougher of matches so far in this tournament and she barely managed to battle her way past Petra Martic in the 4th round and Halep is yet to drop a set in the tournament. So, going on freshness, I would say that Halep has the edge on this one but at the same time you can never count out Svitolina's chances.
So, for me I'm actually going to go with Svitolina on this one as she just appears to be gathering momentum and I can see her battle past Halep even if it becomes a physical match. However it will be a tough one and I can see it go three sets just like their match did in Rome where Svitolina also won.
Caroline Garcia vs Karolina Pliskova
For this one its another close evenly matched head to head as both women are locked at 2-2 in their meetings so far, however Garcia won their only previous meeting on clay. Pliskova so far has spoken about how she struggles on clay and doesn't find it to be a natural surface for her, despite that though she has done well to get to the quarter finals.
However given her struggles on clay, I think this leaves Pliskova at a disadvantage and given that Garcia is a home favourite and she has won their only previous meeting on clay, its worth a punt that she will come through this one. So, I will go with Garcia to win this match in three sets and reach her maiden slam semi final.
Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with more updates for the ladies and coming up soon is a look at the men's tournament so far going into the last 16.
So, see you in a bit...
No comments:
Post a Comment