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French Open: Women’s 4th Rd Predictions

By Jake Fletcher

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French Open: Can Sharapova shrug off her cold & Safarova?

The 4th round in the bottom half of the French Open has been decided and it’s an all seeded affair! Not a solitary unseeded player, qualifier or wild card has advanced this far, despite some sizeable upsets early on.

Here’s a look at the 8 women remaining in the bottom half and who I think will reach the quarter finals!

(Rank/Seed)

(7/7) Ana Ivanovic vs (9/9) Ekaterina Makarova

Ana and Ekaterina have lived up to their seeded expectations, despite the fact I wouldn’t have predicted them to do so. Ana was having a horror of a season coming into this event, losing before the quarters in 7 of the 9 events she’d contested and Ekaterina had made the quarters only once in 4 clay court tournaments played. However, both are now in a position to change all of that, as Ekaterina looks to reach the quarters here for the first time and Ana to do so for the 1st time since she won the title here back in 2008! Ana struggled from a set behind in her first couple of matches but was on fire against Donna Vekic in the 3rd round, crushing her 60 63. Ekaterina struggled through her 2nd round match in 3 sets too, but confidently dispatched her doubles partner, Elena Vesnina 62 64 in the 3rd round. The head to head is tied at 1-1 between the two, both coming in Grand Slam 1st round matches several years ago, long before Ekaterina was a top 10 player. Ana is by far the more natural clay courter, with a bigger, bolder game but she could struggle against her opponent’s canny lefty shots. I think it will be a close match but considering Ekaterina has had the far better Grand Slam record lately, I’d give her the edge.

Prediction- Ekaterina Makarova

(21/19) Elina Svitolina vs (29/29) Alize Cornet

Both Elina and Alize have mopped up the spoils from earlier upsets, which saw Annika Beck put the out of practice (14/11) Agnieszka Radwanska out 62 36 61 in the 1st round and Mirjana Lucic Baroni send shock waves through the tournament as she ousted last year’s finalist, (3/3) Simona Halep 75 61 in the 2nd round, emulating her success against the Romanian at last year’s US Open. Elina has been in solid form recently, cracking the top 20 off the back of a title run in Marrakech, before losing only to Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams in Madrid and Rome respectively. This week, she was forced to recover from a set and 3-0 down to edge Yulia Putintseva 16 75 97 in the 2nd round and then out-lasted Beck 63 26 64 to reach her first Grand Slam 4th round. Aside from her upset of Simona Halep in Madrid, Alize hadn’t made an impression this clay court season until now. In the 1st round, she avenged a recent loss in Madrid against her own nemesis, Roberta Vinci from a set behind and barely edged Lucic Baroni 75 in the 3rd set during the 3rd round! Still, Alize is now through to the 4th round of her home major for the 1st time and owns a 2-0 advantage against Elina, though the two haven’t met since 2013. Though Svitolina has vastly improved since then, I’m not sure she has the best temperament herself to handle the on court histrionics a match against Cornet before her home fans will no doubt involve.

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Prediction- Alize Cornet

(20/21) Garbine Muguruza vs (28/28) Flavia Pennetta

During the 3rd round, Garbine and Flavia pulled off stunning upsets against two of the most in-form clay courters this year. Neither woman had won even a handful of matches on clay this year coming into the event, but Garbine recovered to beat the champion at Charleston and Stuttgart, (11/11) Angelique Kerber 46 62 62 for the 1st time in 4 meetings and Flavia continued to dominate her head to head with the finalist in Rome, (8/8) Carla Suarez Navarro in winning 63 64. Garbine has re-found her form which saw her beat Serena Williams in the 2nd round here a year ago, and could well set up another quarter final against Maria Sharapova, who she led by a set and a break last year before losing in 3 sets. In contrast, Flavia has never advanced beyond the 4th round here, losing both times she’s gotten this far in 2008 and 2010. Garbine has won both of her previous 2 meetings with Flavia, and though each was in 3 sets, I feel that Garbine is in the ascendancy and will have too much fire-power for her veteran opponent.

Prediction- Garbine Muguruza

(2/2) Maria Sharapova vs (13/13) Lucie Safarova

Maria has had to battle a niggling cold, as well as the bad weather and tough opposition in getting her title defence underway. Arguably the favourite for the title, based on her recent success here and her victory in Rome, Maria just got on with it during the 3rd round, handling Strasbourg champion, (22/26) Sam Stosur commendably well, all being considered, to win 63 64. Lucie came into this event behind exceptionally close losses in Madrid and Rome to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alexandra Dulgheru respectively, but has reached the 4th round here for a 2nd straight time. Like Maria, she hasn’t dropped a set so far, beating the likes of equally mercurial players, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and (19/20) Sabine Lisicki in the process. Though Maria leads the head to head 4-1, winning the last 4 since 2012, all of her wins have been exceptionally hard fought, the last three going to 3 sets and involving a multitude of tiebreaks. Lucie has a great lefty serve and if Maria isn’t 100% fit, I think she will struggle to defend against her opponents flat, smooth shots. I really feel that this one could go down to the wire and we just might see a huge upset!

Prediction- Lucie Safarova

Next: French Open: A Look At The Women's Top 8

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