Swiatek was dominant in her opening round match and has sent a message to the field that the winner of the tournament will have to get past her. Rybakina and Andreeva are among the challengers but may be made to work harder than expected on Day 4.
As expected, Swiatek was relentless in a crushing win over Emerson Jones. She now faces another youngster with Bejlek’s win over Sloane Stephens just the second of her career at Grand Slam level. It ended a four-match losing streak and the big concern for her here is the manner which she goes down in defeat. Her last 8 defeats across all levels have been in straight sets and a 6-0 6-1 loss to Talia Gibson in Miami earlier this year reveals a lot about her character. Swiatek plays every point like it is the last so we will be backing her with confidence to cover the games handicap.
Best Bet: Swiatek -7.5 ($2.02)
The most dominant server in women’s tennis (Rybakina) takes on a stubborn competitor in Starodoubtseva who never throws the towel in. She has grinded her way into the top 100 over the last two years and will force Rybakina to play her best. The most difficult part will be breaking serve as was highlighted in Rybakina’s first match where she was not broken. That said, Starodoubtseva was able to break the Blinkova serve 6 times in her win and I can see her breaking serve multiple times in this match. Don’t be surprised if this one goes the distance.
Best Bet: Over 18.5 games ($1.87)
Svitolina was pushed all the way by Bondar coming from a break down in the deciding set to win a match tiebreaker. She struggled to find a rhythm against Bondar’s high looping balls and we could see more of the same here as Quevedo is a clay-court specialist. Won an W75 ITF event without dropping a set prior to arriving in Paris where she came through the qualifiers. Had to contend with the French crowd in her opening round battle with Jeanjean and passed with flying colours by winning two tiebreakers. Won more than 50% of 2nd serve points in that match which is a great gauge with respect to her ability from the baseline. Overs!
Best Bet: Over 17.5 games
Qualifiers can be dangerous and Bassols Ribera is no exception – especially after having defeated Pliskova and Sasnovich just to make it into the main draw. Andreeva managed to win only 38% of 2nd serve points in her win over Ferro and 4 double faults in a match with no pressure is yet another sign of the slight immaturity that is holding her back. Expecting Ribera to hold her own in this one and the +6.5 looks big.
Best Bet: Bassols Ribera +6.5 ($2.20)
Svitolina v Quevedo: Over 17.5 games
Korpatsch v Wang: Korpatsch WIN ($1.98)
Snigur v Stearns: Stearns WIN ($1.44)
Mcnally v Bencic: Under 20.5 games ($1.88)
Kostyuk v Volynets: Kostyuk -5.5 ($1.92)
Ostapenko v Linette: Sets Ostapenko 2-0
Bejlek v Swiatek: Swiatek -7.5 ($2.02)
Andreeva v Bassols Ribera: Bassols Ribera +6.5 ($2.20)
Jones v Bouzkova: Jones +1.5 Sets ($2.00)
Teichmann v Frech: Teichmann WIN ($2.15)
Rakhimova v Muchova: Sets Muchova 2-0
Paolini v Sierra: Paolini -3.5 ($1.88)
Lys v Cirstea: Cirstea -4.5
Baptiste v Wang: Baptiste WIN ($1.50)
Starodoubtseva v Rybakina: Over 18.5 games ($1.87)