We’re into the quarter finals and with Kostyuk ousting four-time winner Iga Swiatek, we will have a first time French Open champion. Further to that, one of the four women remaining in the bottom half will be contesting a major final for the first time.
The career of Andreeva has only just begun but despite still being a teenager (19), this is her 4th appearance in a Grand Slam quarter final. This is Cirstea’s 67th Grand Slam appearance but will mark only the third time she has made it to the final eight. Don’t be fooled into thinking that she cannot win as the two went toe-to-toe a little more than a month ago on clay in Linz. Andreeva came away with the chocolates in a very tight 7-6 4-6 6-2 win. The match was decided by a handful of points and this contest will come down to how many points Cirstea can win behind her second serve. In that match she was down at 35% of 2nd serve points won compared to 53% for Andreeva. The Romanian is hovering around 43% in that department while Andreeva is over 50%. For that reason, there is a slight lean to Andreeva but this one is sure to go to a deciding third set. Andreeva in three.
Best Bet: Over 21.5 games ($1.83)
Value: Sets Andreeva 2-1
Ukraine are assured of on place in the semi finals but who will it be??? Svitolina came from a set down to beat Bencic and sealed the win with a bagel in the deciding set. As good as that was, Kostyuk was the big story of the 4th Round as she beat four-time winner Iga Swiatek. Leading into that match specific reference was made on the number of service breaks that Swiatek had conceded and it was the telling factor as Kostyuk broke 6 times in two sets! The H2H in this series reads 1-1 but both meetings came on a hard court. The history doesn’t carry as much relevance here as both players know one another incredibly well having trained and played alongside one another for Ukraine. The winner of this contest will be the player that is able to play the big points best. A quick look at break points (for and faced) reveals that Svitolina has won 60% of those points while Kostyuk is below 50%. We cannot question the form of either player as Kostyuk won WTA1000 event in Madrid while Svitolina won the title in Rome. There will not be as many breaks of serve as expected which will lead to long sets and even a breaker or two. Like the first quarter final, I have this one going the distance.
Best Bet: Over 21.5 games ($1.82)
Value: 1st Set Total Games – Over 10.5 ($3.40)