The French Open tennis tournament continues with the second round. So far, it has been an entertaining few days at Roland Garros,which includes the early departure of No. 1 seed Angelique Kerber. She lost in the first round, becoming the first No. 1 seed to do so.
While we went 3-0 with our tennis picks on Tuesday, we had a much tougher time of things on Wednesday. Yesterday, we went 1-2 as two of our picks failed to show up for us. We had Domikia Cibulkova, who lost in straight sets to Ons Jabeur. Jabeur only ceded seven games in the entire match. We also had Sara Errani but she also flopped for us in straight sets. Errani only won a total of five games before losing to Kristina Mladenovic. Our one win came from Svetlana Kuznetsova. She had to struggle but she won a three set match with Oceane Dodin.
Looking ahead to Thursday, we’ll see both big names and dark horses on the slate for the day. Here are three selections to consider:
Elina Svitolina vs. Tsvetana Pironkova
Elina Svitolina signaled with her Rome triumph that she can’t be discounted at the French Open. Svitolina opened her Roland Garros campaign with a commanding straight-set first-round win over former quarterfinalist Yaroslava Shvedova, where she smashed 25 winners. Svitolina was beaten by Shvedova in Wimbledon last year but the Ukrainian is completely a different player this year. She has become physically stronger and mentally fitter.
Svitolina has her work cut out as she faces last year’s French Open quarterfinalist Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round. Pironkova defied the odds and came out with an upset win over Mona Barthel, who was in good form coming in to Paris. Pironkova has been injured for most of this season but played an excellent match to knock out a player who is ranked 27 spots above her.
Pironkova may have had her best win of the year, but Svitolina has more wins under her belt, is oozing with confidence and is experiencing a career best season. She just can’t lose at the moment.
Pick: Svitolina in three sets
Eugenie Bouchard vs. Anastasija Sevastova
Eugenie Bouchard withdrew from the Nuremberg Cup with an ankle injury and her Roland Garros participation was in serious doubt. However, she decided to play. In her first-round match, she was slow to come out of the blocks but posted a comeback 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Riza Ozaki. The 2014 Roland Garros semifinalist committed a whopping 24 errors in the first set but came back strong to seal the deal in three sets.
Bouchard next faces 17th seed Anastasija Sevastova in the second round. They’ve never played on clay but have split their two meetings. Unlike Bouchard, Sevastova didn’t have to work overtime in the first round. She completed her job by brushing aside Annika Beck in straight sets.
The Bouchard injury doesn’t seem to be as complicated as it is made out to be, and despite Sevastova being the higher-ranked player, Bouchard has a manageable path to the third round. Take her.
Pick: Bouchard in three sets
Daria Kasatkina vs. Marketa Vondrousova
Daria Kasatkina has long been considered as a player of the future. Although Kasatkina is young, talented and still rising in the rankings, she has yet to make a deep run at a major tournament. She has started her French Open on a high by beating dangerous floater Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets, but she faces a stern test in the next round.
Kasatkina plays in-form Czech prodigy Marketa Vondrousova in an highly anticipated second-round clash. Vondrousova shot to fame by winning the junior Australian Open and French Open in 2015 and is now starting to make waves on the WTA circuit. Vondrousova easily came through the qualifying draws and then absolutely decimated first round foe Amandine Hesse 6-1, 6-0. Vondrousova is just 17 years of age but is powerful. The way she is thumping her opponents is frightening and even the experienced Kasatkina should feel the heat.
Pick: Vondrousova in straight sets
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