Moyuka Uchijima
Arantxa Rus will face Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima in the final round of qualifiers at 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 registering a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win over Barbora Palicova in the previous round. Rus is seeded No.3 for the qualifying phase of the clay-court Grand Slam and she will be confident about her chances of making it to the main draw. However, it’s certainly not going to be easy, especially against a tricky opponent like Uchijima.
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 turn things around and make a statement by progressing to the main draw of the clay-court Grand Slam.
Uchijima features regularly on the ITF circuit and is relatively new to the WTA senior level. The Japanese youngster has given a good account of herself so far at the French Open qualifiers.
She began her campaign with a convincing 6-2, 6-2 win against Despina Papamichail and then went on to register another comfortable victory against India’s Ankita Raina. However, the job only gets tougher from here on and it remains to be seen if she has what it takes to pull off an upset against the much higher-ranked Arantxa Rus.
Date – Friday, 26th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Paris
Match details – Quarter-final
Rus and Uchijima have never played each other before on the WTA tour. This is the first professional head to head clash between the two players. On paper, Rhs is the favourite both in terms of form and rankings. However, one can certainly not rule out the promising Japanese and she is expected to put up a tough fight. We are predicting a close encounter but Arantxa Rus should prevail in straight sets.
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