The quarter finals of the French Open begin at Roland Garros on Tuesday when half of both of the singles draws are played out which means we will know two of the semi-finals by the time the action concludes.
We have lost very few big names in this part of the draw which means that the schedule is full of quality and with the singles event taking place purely on the main court from here we should be in for another great day of tennis.
Aryna Sabalenka vs Qinwen Zheng
We begin with what is a repeat of the Australian Open final from last year as the world number one Aryna Sabalenka takes on the woman who won the Olympic gold medal on this court as recently as August in the Chinese ace Qinwen Zheng.
Sabalenka won that Australian Open final between the two but you sense that Zheng will be much more confident of getting revenge on the red dirt. Zheng ended a 6-0 record against the Belarusian with a win in Rome which was their only meeting on clay so that will serve the Chinese player well, as will the fact she has just faced a heavy hitter in Liudmila Samsonova. She will need her very best here though because the world number one has only dropped 18 games in her four matches to date and looks in impressive form. There is no doubt that the slower conditions bring Sabalenka closer to the pack than the faster conditions where right now she is comfortably the best player in the world. In turn, those conditions allow the weaknesses that Zheng has in her game to be less exposed so this should be a good opener to the day. Zheng is happy on this court. She has positive memories here and I’m hoping that will allow her to come through as I took her to win this quarter before a ball was hit and now is the payout match. There is enough to let that bet ride here.
Elina Svitolina vs Iga Swiatek
The second women’s quarter final sees the defending champion Iga Swiatek looking to make it through to another Roland Garros semi-final. The draw was due to give us a repeat of the final from last year but Elina Svitolina didn’t get that script and it is the Ukrainian who will meet the Pole here.
These two women are no strangers to each other having met on four previous occasions with Switek holding a 3-1 head-to-head lead. That is 1-0 on clay after they met in Rome four years ago. Both women have followed a similar path to this quarter final with three straight sets wins in the first three matches before titanic tussles in their round of 16 game. All the narrative going into the week was how Swiatek was more vulnerable and there were shades of that against Elena Rybakina in the previous round, although whether Svitolina has the power to offer similar here remains to be seen. Once Swiatek got into that match she looked the likely winner and while we can ensure Svitolina will give this her all as she always does, I just expect her to be outgunned here, but there is that nagging doubt about Swiatek which is just enough for me to leave this one alone.
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Lorenzo Musetti vs Frances Tiafoe
The first of the quarter finals for the men rounds off the day session when the rising Italian star Lorenzo Musetti meets the American player Frances Tiafoe with both playing for a spot in the last four here for the first time.
You probably wouldn’t have expected Tiafoe to make it through to a clay court quarter final here but you would be even less likely to have expected him to have done it without dropping a set but that is the case so he merits respect off the back of that. It is fair to say that the challenge is about to get a whole lot tougher but at the same time he will be fresh going into this match and is clearly playing well as you don’t beat the likes of Seb Korda and Pablo Carreno Busta without dropping a set if you aren’t in top form. The trouble Tiafoe has is Musetti looks in decent form even though he has dropped a set in his last two matches. The way he repelled the challenge of Holger Rune was particularly impressive and the longer that match went on, the Italian just broke the will of his opponent. He’ll struggle to do that here with Tiafoe but the all-round quality in his game should see him get the better of the American in the end but I don’t see ‘big Foe’ going down without a fight. Tiafoe gave Musetti a good going over in Cincinnati last season but the Italian hadn’t long before that won Olympic bronze on this very court. Their other five meetings have gone the distance and so while I would expect Musetti to come through here, the evidence is that he might need more than three sets to do it in.
Tommy Paul vs Carlos Alcaraz
The one match in the night session on Tuesday comes from the men’s draw where the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will look to make it through to the semi-finals once again when he takes on the gutsy American player Tommy Paul.
These two have met a few times in the recent past and Paul always gives his all but Alcaraz usually finds a way to get the job done. They have met on this court previously in the Olympics last year where Alcaraz prevailed in straight sets but the second set went to a tiebreak. Paul has played a lot of tennis in this tournament which would be a concern for a player who has openly admitted that he is carrying an injury. Alcaraz probably isn’t firing on all cylinders at the minute but at the same time the moments he steps it up he still looks absolutely fantastic. I wouldn’t be surprised if Paul won a set here but I don’t see him matching Alcaraz enough to win three out of five sets but there is nothing that really reels me in so I’ll take a watching brief rather a betting one on this one.
Tips
Back L.Musetti to beat F.Tiafoe and both players to win a set for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Boylesports
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