The top half of the women’s draw is going to take shape by the end of Day 6 as there is the potential for some mouthwatering 4th Round clashes if the favoured players win their respective matches.
Sabalenka continues to dominate while Swiatek looks to be back in form at her favourite tournament. The match of the day see two former major winners face off – Rybakina and Ostapenko.
The top seed has been unstoppable thus far dropping a total of 5 games across her first two matches. Faces a tougher task here with Danilovic who has posted wins over Leylah Fernandez and Danielle Collins – two women who are former Grand Slam finalists. Danilovic is a lefty which is always a wildcard – even for the top players in the world. Their only prior meeting came in Madrid back in 2018 with Sabalenka breaking serve just the three times in a straight sets win. Can see Danilovic keeping it close in at least one of the sets.
Swiatek looked every bit the reigning French Open champion in a 6-1 6-2 win over Raducanu and if she maintains that level of tennis, she will be hard to beat. Cristian has never made it beyond the 3rd Round at this level and her only win against a top 10 player came against Krejcikova last year. Has capitalised on a favourable draw here but is about to find out how difficult it is to hit through Swiatek on this surface. Want to be on the defending champion to cover the games handicap.
Ostapenko won the first two meetings in this series but has since lost the last three in convincing fashion. It does not come entirely as a surprise as Ostapenko’s game is built largely on the back of breaking serve. Rybakina is one of the biggest servers on the WTA Tour and of players that have played 10+ matches this season, she leads the tour in percentage of service games won. Ostapenko is 93rd in that department and will be under constant pressure to hold serve. She may have patches of brilliance but the consistency of Rybakina will see her progress.
Starodoubtseva has consistently battled her way through the qualifiers to make the main draw at the majors and has broken through to make the 3rd Round for the first time. It will elevate her to a new career high ranking and she will gain automatic entry to upcoming majors but it will not help her cause against Paolini. The Italian is yet to show us her best tennis in Paris but the signs at there that a dominant performance is forthcoming. Won 10 of 14 2nd serve return points against Tomljanovic and am expecting her to replicate that against Starodoubtseva. Cannot see her dropping more than a handful of games.
Sabalenka v Danilovic: Over 18.5 games ($1.83)
Tauson v Anisimova: Tauson +2.5 ($1.91)
Yastremska v Samsonova: Yastremska WIN ($2.20)
Mboko v Zheng: Under 20.5 games ($1.80)
Paolini v Starodoubtseva: Paolini -6.5 ($1.80)
Pera v Svitolina: Over 18.5 games ($1.75)
Rybakina v Ostapenko: Sets Rybakina 2-0 ($2.05)
Cristian v Swiatek: Swiatek -7.5 ($2.10)