Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens of the US will take on No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round of the French Open
Sloane Stephens has come into this tournament at the back of some really good form during the clay-court season. She won the WTA 125K Saint Malo tournament earlier in May and reached the Semi-finals of the Morocco Open last week. The American has carried forward the good form to Paris and has made a good start to her French Open campaign.
She began her journey with a 6-0, 6-4 win against No.16 seed Karolina Pliskova in the first round. The former World No.3 then went on to get the better of Russia’s Varvara Gracheva in convincing fashion to progress to the third round and followed it up with a commendable victory in three sets against Yulia Putintseva. Stephens’ best ever result at the French Open was the runners-up finish in 2018 and she will be aiming to better that feat. However, she is not quite in her prime and it remains to be seen if her body can cope with the demands of the elite level as she continues to progress deeper into the tournament.
Russian star Aryna Sabalenka has been at her sublime best so far at the French Open. She is yet to drop a set in Paris and looks determined to win her maiden French Open title. The No.2 seed began her campaign with a comprehensive victory against Marta Kostyuk before getting the better of Iryna Shyamanovich in the same fashion. In the third round, she defeated compatriot Kamilla Rakhimova to storm into the fourth round of the competition. She looks in ominous touch and unless she messes up big time, the Russian should definitely be one of the strong contenders for the title.
Details: Date – Sunday, 4th June
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – 11:45 pm IST
Location – Paris
Match details – Fourth round
Stephens and Sabalenka have played each other thrice before on the WTA Tour. The Russian has the clear 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 the No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka eventually coming out on top in three sets.
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