The second round of the French Open wraps up on Day 5. Thursday will see 16 women’s matches, and we’re here at LWOT to predict all of them for you. Who will win? We look at all 16 matches across four articles. The other three articles headline Kristyna Pliskova vs Garbine Muguruza, Petra Kvitova vs Jasmine Paolini, and Sofia Kenin vs Ana Bogdan. Predicting this set of matches are Jim Smith, Damian Kust, and Sean Judge.
French Open Day 5 Predictions
Kaja Juvan vs Clara Burel
Jim:
Juvan was excellent in her first-round win over Angelique Kerber, beating the former World #1 6-3 6-4. It might just be the breakthrough win that the Slovakian has long been threatening. That said, she should not expect to have things all her own way against Burel, who battled past Arantxa Rus in impressive fashion in her opener. But Juvan should just about have enough to edge this one.
Prediction: Juvan in 2
Damian:
The Slovenian has been doing very well since the restart. Her win over Angelique Kerber was of excellent quality and if she keeps it up, she should beat her one year younger opponent.
Prediction: Juvan in 2
Sean:
Kaja Juvan defeated former World No.1 Angelique Kerber in straight sets to win her first round match at the French Open. The 19-year-old is currently just outside the world’s top 100 and is definitely showing signs to be a great clay court player. French wild card, Burel, also surprised many as she surpassed the inform Arantxa Rus in a three hour hustle. The battle of the teens are fighting for both of their first appearances in the third round of a Grand Slam and will be fighting their hardest to earn their spot. It should be a good battle but I’m going with the more experienced teenager in Juvan.
Prediction: Juvan in 2
Christina McHale vs Patricia Maria Tig
Jim:
Tig has been in excellent form of late on the clay and won the Istanbul Cup just two weeks ago. She made an assured start to her French Open campaign, beating Stefanie Voegele 7-5 7-5, with that win setting up what looks like another winnable match for the Romanian. McHale has power, enough to beat an out-of-sorts Karolina Muchova, but she doesn’t have much of a record to speak of on clay.
Prediction: Tig in 3
Damian:
Tig recently captured the first title of her career in Istanbul and is a much more accomplished clay court player. Expect her rich vein of form to continue.
Prediction: Tig in 2
Sean:
Christina McHale put in a fabulous first round performance to beat 22nd seed Karolina Muchova in straight sets. Despite her opponent being wild she played consistent solid tennis with an amazing 79% first serves in. This was her first main draw win at Roland Garros in eight years! She will have to play at this level once again as she plays the in-form Tig for a spot in Round 3. Tig has recently just won in Istanbul and is on a six match winning streak. She had a hustle against Voegele in round one winning 7-5 7-5 but will be expected to up her game against McHale.
Prediction: Tig in 2
Aryna Sabalenka vs Daria Kasatkina
Jim:
This should be some match. Both Sabalenka and Kasatkina have found some form in recent weeks and both made superb starts in Paris, with Sabalenka thrashing Jessica Pegula and Kasatkina recording a similarly dominant win over Harmony Tan. But the slow, heavy conditions at the French Open appear to be favouring the big hitters, particularly in the women’s draw. And there is no doubt about which of this pair is the bigger hitter.
Prediction: Sabalenka in 3
Damian:
Kasatkina picked up a lot of steam in Rome but was forced to end her run when she rolled her ankle against Viktoria Azarenka. She’ll keep it close but Sabalenka was looking great in Strasburg and her immense power will allow her to hit through the court with relative ease.
Prediction: Sabalenka in 3
Sean:
Aryna Sabalenka impressed in her first match at Roland Garros with a convincing win against Jessica Pegula, 6-3 6-1. This followed up a semi-final performance in Strasbourg where she pushed the eventual champion, Elina Svitolina, to three sets. Daria Kasatkina has found her form on the clay after a disappointing return to the tour in August. She reached the third round as a qualifier in Rome before being forced to withdraw because of a right ankle injury. In her first round match Kasatkina breezed passed wild card Harmony Tan 6-2 6-1 to make Round 2. This is going to be a close contest and is hard to predict.
Prediction: Sabalenka in 3
Karolina Pliskova vs Jelena Ostapenko
Jim:
Ostapenko made a sharp start to her French Open campaign, thrashing Madison Brengle, whilst Pliskova struggled past the qualifier Mayar Sherif. Based on their respective performances in the first round, it is hard to look past Ostapenko here, with the conditions suiting her powerful baseline game.
Prediction: Ostapenko in 2
Damian:
It’s impossible to predict which version of Ostapenko we’ll see on Thursday but the 2017 Roland Garros champion is an upset alert against anyone. Pliskova is not that good on the clay and Ostapenko’s big-hitting should work well in these conditions.
Prediction: Ostapenko in 3
Sean:
Karolina Pliskova will be going into her second round match at the French Open after a gruelling victory over Sherif of Egypt. She was far from her best but is expected to put in a better display in the next round. Her opponent, Jelena Ostapenko, cruised into the second round with a convincing 6-2 6-1 win over Brengle. She won 76 points in the match with an astonishing 46 of them being winners! It will be a close contest and really depends on the level Ostapenko brings and whether she can beat the Czech like she did in Beijing last year.
Prediction: Pliskova in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
