Arantxa Rus
Austria’s Julia Grabher will take on Arantxa Rus in the first round of the French Open
Arantxa Rus is a regular in the ITF circuit and has played only a handful of WTA events this year. The 32-year-old is coming into this match after overcoming three rounds of qualifiers. She registered a comfortable 6-3, 7-6 win over Moyuka Uchijima in the final round of the qualifying phase to make it to the main draw. The job only gets tougher from here on and it remains to be seen how far she can progress in the tournament.
Rus has been in pretty good form at the ITF level so far this season. She won the ITF Colombia tournament in March and had earlier finished runners-up in the ITF USA event. However, she hasn’t quite been able to perform well in the WTA events. She has come to Paris following a first-round exit from her previous WTA tournament – the Italian Open. The Dutch ace will be looking to make a statement by putting up a good display at the clay-court Grand Slam.
Julia Grabher is coming into this tournament high on confidence following a commendable runners-up finish at the Moroccan Open last week. The Austrian Ace put on a great show on the clay courts of Morocco before eventually losing to Lucia Bronzetti in the final.
She is currently ranked World No.74 and will have to be at the top of her game in her opening fixture against Arantxa Rus. Grabher will fancy her chances against the qualifiers but there is certainly no room for complacency on a stage as big as the Roland Garros.
Date – Tuesday, 30th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Paris
Match details – First Round
Rus and Grabher have played each other thrice before on the WTA Tour. Rus has the upper hand, having won all three previous encounters and thereby leads 3-0 on head to head. The match is a difficult one to call as both players are in good form and have similar playing styles. It is most likely to boil down to who plays better on that particular day. We are predicting an intense encounter with Rus eventually coming out on top in three sets.
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