WILL EVANS’ daily preview serves up French Open tips for a quarter-final showdown between in-form Maria Sakkari and defending champ Iga Świątek.
French Open Tips – Maria Sakkari V Iga Świątek
20:00 (AEST), Wed 9th Jun @ Roland Garros, Paris
History: First meeting
Final Thoughts: Iga Świątek is mounting a compelling case to become the first back-to-back women’s French Open champion since Justine Henin (2005-07).
The Polish wunderkind, who only turned 20 on the first day of the tournament, has breezed into the quarter-finals in dominant style reminiscent of her blistering Roland Garros charge last year. She is the only top-16 seed remaining.
Świątek has accounted for Kaja Juvan, Rebecca Peterson, 30th seed Anett Kontaveit and Marta Kostyuk. She is yet to drop a set, has lost no more than seven games in a match and has had her serve broken just five times.
The world No.9 laid down the gauntlet to her would-be challengers a fortnight out from the French Open. Świątek won the Rome Masters easily – including a double-bagel victory over Karolina Pliskova in the final.
Meanwhile, her form in Paris has drawn comparisons with ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal.
But 17th seed Maria Sakkari looks set to provide Świątek with by far her biggest challenge of the tournament to date.
After breezing past Katarina Zavatska and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets, she overcame 14th seed Elise Mertens 7-5 6-7 6-2. The Greek 25-year-old then destroyed 2020 French Open runner-up Sofia Kenin 6-1 6-3.
Sakkari is into a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time. The winner of this match will be expected to go on and win the tournament – they have easily been the best two players over the past week and a half.
But Świątek is a cut above on this surface. There are no weaknesses in her game and she looks absolutely unstoppable.
Tip: Games Handicap – Świątek -4.5 @ $1.76
FRENCH OPEN TIPS |
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