{"id":15137,"date":"2019-05-29T11:32:57","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T15:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=15137"},"modified":"2019-05-30T05:40:16","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T09:40:16","slug":"french-open-day-5-predictions-naomi-osaka-victoria-azarenka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2019\/05\/29\/french-open-day-5-predictions-naomi-osaka-victoria-azarenka\/","title":{"rendered":"French Open Day 5 Women’s Predictions–Including Naomi Osaka vs Victoria Azarenka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 5 at the French Open<\/a> wraps up the second round. As each player tries to move on to the Round of 32, the competition will only get more fierce. Day 5–Thursday–is full of great matches. Who will move on? We’re here to predict that for you. This set of matches features the battle of Grand Slam champions between Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka. (We also have two other sets of predictions for you. One features Serena Williams vs Kurumi Nara<\/a>, while the other headlines Amanda Anisimova vs Aryna Sabalenka<\/a>.) Predicting this set of matches for you are Brett Margolies, Tracey Essex, and Jay Sandhu.<\/p>\n

French Open Day 5 Women’s Predictions<\/h2>\n

Daria Kasatkina vs Monica Puig<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Tracey:<\/em>
\nKasatkina has only one third round appearance on clay, which happened in Rome. The way I look at it is that the Russian\u2019s clay court game is improving. Monica Puig is an amazing talent, but her clay court record has been hit or miss. Kasatkina can problem solve matches and I think that\u2019s exactly what she\u2019ll do up against Puig.
\nPrediction: Kasatkina in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Jay:<\/em>
\nKasatkina has had a very poor year, but lately has improved slightly. Puig has been relatively inconsistent this year but has had a good clay court season and is playing slightly better than her opponent at the moment. Kasatkina leads the head to head 2-1, but all of their matches have been extremely close and I think Puig may cause an upset.
\nPrediction: Puig in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Brett:<\/em>
\nMonica Puig is playing some of her best tennis right now under coach Kamau Murray. Puig defeated Flipkins in straight sets while Kasatkina defeated qualifier Jasmine Paolini in straight sets as well. This match is about even, but I’d give a slight edge to Kasatkina who’s the better player on clay.
\nPrediction: Kasatkina in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>