Beatriz Haddad Maia and Victoria Azarenka
The pair of Beatriz Haddad Maia/Azarenka will take on No.2 seeds Gauff/Pegula in the second round of the French Open
Beatriz Haddad Maia and Azarenka are not regular doubles partners and started playing together recently ahead of the French Open. While both of them are established singles players, they do not have enough experience of playing together in the doubles format. Despite the barriers, the duo won the Madrid Open title earlier in May and have started their French Open campaign pretty well too.
They beat the duo of Mihalikova/Kanepi 6-0, 6-1 in the opening round and are now set to face the second seeded pairing of Gauff and Pegula. It remains to be seen if they can pull off an upset and progress further in the tournament.
Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff form a strong doubles pair and they have already won two WTA doubles titles this year – the Qatar Open and the Miami Open.
Pegula and Gauff complement each other’s playing style very well and it shows in their recent results. The American duo finished runners-up in their two previous events – the Madrid Open and the Italian Open. They will now look to go a step better at the French Open in Paris.
They began their campaign with a solid 6-2, 6-2 win over Siegemund/Zvonareva in the first round and will be high on confidence coming into this match. They will certainly enter this encounter as favourites but there is definitely no room for complacency.
Date – Friday, 2nd June
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Paris
Match details – Second Round
Haddad Maia/Azarenka and Pegula/Gauff have played each other once before on the WTA tour. The unseeded pair emerged victorious on that occasion, which happened to be the Madrid Open earlier this year and thereby leads 1-0 on head to head. On paper, Pegula/Gauff are the favourites both in terms of form and rankings. We can certainly expect Haddad Maia/Azarenka to put up a tough fight but the No.2 seeds should eventually prevail. We are predicting a win in three sets for Pegula and Gauff.
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