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French Open: Women’s 4th Rd Predictions

By Jake Fletcher

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French Open: Can Sloane stop Serena?

The 4th round of the top half of the French Open will be played tomorrow. Unlike the bottom half, a number of surprise packages have reached the last 16.

Here are my predictions as to who will reach the quarter finals!

(Rank/Seed)

(1/1) Serena Williams vs (40/-) Sloane Stephens

Serena Williams has been skating on thin ice this week! The two time former champion recovered from a set behind against Anna-Lena Friedsam in the 2nd round and then a set and 2-4 down against former number one, Victoria Azarenka. Perhaps her slow starts can be attributed to her lack of preparation for this event, but either way, Serena has lived to fight another day and in the process, became the first woman EVER to win at least 50 matches in all 4 Grand Slam tournaments!

Sloane is back! After a good year or so out in the wilderness, Sloane is beginning to look like the player who was once reaching Grand Slam semis and beating the likes of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova! After pushing Samantha Stosur to 3 sets in the Strasbourg semis, she got her week off to a flying start here, handling (15/15) Venus Williams in straight sets. Can she become only the 4th woman to beat both Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam? Though this is the 4th straight time she’s reached the 4th round here, she’s never progressed further!

Serena dominates their head to head 4-1 and has won their two meetings this year, most recently 64 60 on the clay in Madrid. Sloane’s only win came in their biggest meeting yet in the quarters at the 2013 Australian Open, but even then Serena should have won before a back injury impeded her! It’s certainly going to be a battle between 2 American power-houses, where there will be no mercy!

Prediction- Serena Williams

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(17/17) Sara Errani vs (72/-) Julia Goerges

Despite a lack lustre clay court season, Sara Errani has found her winning groove in Paris again! The former finalist struggled through her first couple of matches in 3 sets, before avenging her loss in last year’s quarters here to (10/10) Andrea Petkovic, playing as solid as a rock to beat her 63 63 in the 3rd round.

Remember Julia Goerges? The former top 20 German, who in 2011 beat then ranked number one, Caroline Wozniacki for the title in Stuttgart has really lost her way lately and had won only one main draw match on clay this year! Despite this, she proved to still be too good for (5/5) Caroline Wozniacki on clay, using her heavy forehand to bully the Dane into a 64 76(4) defeat in the 2nd round, remaining unbeaten against the Dane in 3 meetings on the surface. This is the furthest Julia has ever got in Paris, but she probably won’t want reminding that she’s never reached a Grand Slam quarter final, losing all three 4th rounds she’s played at the Australian Open!

The head to head is tied at 2-2, with Julia winning their last meeting at the Australian Open 2013. However, Sara won their only meeting on clay comfortably in Barcelona 2012 and I can imagine her drawing Julia into errors with her tenacious scrambling and canny drop shots.

Prediction- Sara Errani

(4/4) Petra Kvitova vs (24/23) Timea Bacsinszky

Petra can play on clay! She’s proven it this year in beating Serena Williams en route to the title in Madrid! Despite a  couple of edgy 3 set matches to begin with, she appears to be getting going, judging by her 63 62 win over in-form (30/30) Irina Camelia Begu and will no doubt take heart in getting beyond the 3rd round for the first time since reaching the semis in 2012.

Timea has been playing SO well this year and is one of only 3 women to have won 30+ matches! The solid Swiss, who’s already won a couple of titles this year, upset Australian Open semi finalist, (16/16) Madison Keys 64 62 in the 3rd round to reach the last 16 at a Grand Slam for the 1st time!

The good news doesn’t stop there for Timea! She beat Petra 64 64 in their only previous meeting earlier this year, though that was on hard courts in Shenzhen. If Petra plays her best, she will have too much for Timea but anything less will play into her steady opponent’s hands.

Prediction- Petra Kvitova

(93/-) Alison Van Uytvanck vs (100/-) Andreea Mitu   

No, this isn’t a hoax! Though they might not be household names, Alison and Andreea are both having a breakthrough run here in Paris!

Alison, 21 and from Belgium had won only 1 Grand Slam main draw match in 5 played coming in here but undoubtedly benefitted from the 1st round defeat of (6/6) Eugenie Bouchard in beating her conqueror, Kristina Mladenovic in the 3rd round. However, it took some guts to recover in the 2nd round against (32/32) Zarina Diyas to win 06 61 64.

Andreea, 23 and from Romania had only ever played 1 main draw match at a Grand Slam before this, losing it at Wimbledon 2014. Things have recently started to piece themselves together for Mitu though, considering she reached the 3rd round in Charleston, beat Eugenie Bouchard at the Fed Cup and qualified for Madrid and Nuremburg! In the 2nd round here, she pulled off a sensational upset of (12/12) Karolina Pliskova, edging the rising star 26 76(5) 64 before taking out the 2010 champion here, Francesca Schiavone in straight sets.

The head to head is tied at 1-1, but both meetings came over 2 years ago on the ITF circuit! Alison won the one played on clay in Olomouc 2012, but considering I’m not familiar with either players game I’d imagine that it will be a case of who’s in the better form and who can handle the occasion better. It’s a stab in the dark…

Prediction- Andreea Mitu

Next: French Open: Women's 4th Round Predictions- Bottom Half

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