After 2 brilliant weeks of Clay court Tennis at Roland Garros for the French Open with plenty of shocks in the women's draw while the men's draw went slightly more according to the seedings although some big players still exited quite early on. What it all means is that on Saturday we have the French Open Women's Final between Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep while on Sunday the Men's Final in Paris will be between No.1 seed Rafael Nadal and No.2 seed Novak Djokovic.
What it's time for me to do now is have a look ahead at both of these finals:
Saturday 7th June: French Open Women's Final:
Maria Sharapova Vs Simona Halep - This she be a very good final that should certainly go the full 3 sets to be decided between two ladies that have played some equally impressive Tennis over the last couple of weeks in Paris. After a pretty comfortable start to the tournament with easy straight sets 2-0 wins in the opening three rounds, Maria Sharapova has certainly had to dig in, fight hard and go the long route to making this final. In the Last 16 she started pretty poorly against Sam Stosur and lost the first set before she found her best Tennis and really began to play well and there was little Stosur could do as Sharapova came back to make the quarter-finals. In her quarter-final against the Spanish Muguruza she again started very poorly in both of the first 2 sets having problems with double faults and generally struggling for rhythm on her own serve. However, after losing the opening set and being let off the hook to win the second she was always going to win the match and she took the deciding set comfortably to reach the semi-finals. Her semi-final match against Eugenie Bouchard was always going to be tough and so it proved with the Canadian starting off incredibly well playing some great tennis to take the opening set. Once again, Sharapova had to fight and dig in again though and she did just that to force a deciding set where her better tennis came out again and she was able to do enough to make it into the final.
Simona Halep hasn't had an easy draw as such, but one of the most improved players on the women's tour has made it look very easy, winning every single match in straight sets to get to this point saving a lot of mental and physical energy while Maria has had to work very hard for her wins in the second week. However, when it comes to Grand Slam finals it's certainly Maria Sharapova that has a lot more experience and you certainly feel that the first set is going to be the key to this match. With Sharapova starting slowly in a lot of games Halep has to take advantage if she does so in this final otherwise it will be hard for her to come back against the very gritty and tough Sharapova.
Prediction: It's sure to be close but I fancy Sharapova to win a deciding set.
Sunday 8th June: French Open Men's Final:
Rafael Nadal Vs Novak Djokovic: The men's final should be an equally if not even more entertaining clash as the two biggest players in men's tennis face off for the French Open title in Paris. Rafael Nadal is known as the "King of Clay" and rightly so having won 8 French Open titles in his career and he's had things his own way for much of the week using up very little energy really in making this final. Rafa's had a very easy draw here to get through his first 4 rounds against lesser players winning each in straight sets without any problems. In the quarter-finals against Ferrer he got off to a very poor start and he lost the opening set, but soon the tables were turned and Ferrer started playing poorly as Nadal won inside 4 sets. Meanwhile, in today's semi-final against Andy Murray he was in control from start to finish barely giving Murray a look in on Nadal's serve while he was left struggling to hold his own showing just why he is the King of Clay.
Meanwhile Djokovic has had a much tougher draw having to beat Marin Cilic in round 3 and winning in 4 sets, while he beat Jo Wilfred-Tsonga quite comfortably in round 4 in straight sets dominating that match throughout and making Tsonga look poor. In the quarter-finals he made another tough match against Milos Raonic look very easy beating him in straight sets and playing well again in the process. Today in the semi-finals against Ernest Gulbis he played well again for the most part against a very tough opponent who beat Roger Federer along the way, but Novak's form in the last few months has been sublime and he has every chance of removing The King of Clay from his throne.
Prediction: Both have been playing well but I just fancy Nadal to do what he does at Roland Garros and win this one in 4 sets.
Whatever the outcome in Paris over the next 2 days we have 2 mouth-watering finals to look forward to and I'm sure they will live up to their billing and I hope you enjoy watching them at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment