Damien Kayat previews Daria Kasatkina vs Marketa Vondrousova and Jessica Pegula vs Camelia Giorgi in selected round 2matches of the French Open, on the 32st of May 2023.
2023 WTA Tour
Grand Slam Tennis
French Open
Stade Roland Garros, Paris, France (Outdoor Clay)
Selected 2nd round Matches – 31st May
Daria Kasatkina 19/10 | Marketa Vondrousova 2/5
This could be a wonderfully tactical match between two excellent clay-court exponents 9th seeded Russian just came through a car crash of a first-round match with German Julie Niemeier.
Neither player could find their rhythm in a match that featured a remarkable 13 breaks of serve. Also, Kasatkina accumulated nine double-faults in the match. The Russian was just lucky that the big-hitting German was more erratic than usual. 2017 Charleston Open winner Kasatkina is a perfect fit for clay.
She hits her forehand with plenty of topspin and loves throwing in drop-shots and slices. She creates outrageous angles and has started to develop a decent Roland Garros pedigree. She reached the quarterfinals in 2018 and made her deepest Grand Slam run with a semifinal appearance last year.
She has been decent- if- unremarkable this season. She lost to Belinda Bencic in an Adelaide final and had a clay-court semi-final appearance in Charleston. But she will need to significantly improve her serving when she comes up against returner extraordinaire Marketa Vondrousova.
Marketa Vondrousova is a really appealing dark horse option this week. The 23-year-old Czech memorably reached the final of this great event in 2019. She also reached the 4th round here when she last took part in 2021.
She was forced to end her season early last season due to wrist surgery. And she has slowly been grinding out results since her return to the tour. In fact, she has been slightly unlikely not to pick up some big results this year. She reached the Linz semi-finals before picking up back-to-back 4th round finishes at the prestigious ‘Sunshine Double’.
And she is fresh off another impressive WTA 1000 4th round run in Rome. She beat Sakkari in straight sets before running into eventual champ Elena Rybakina in the round of 16.
She looked ominous in her first-round match against American Alycia Parks, needing just 71 minutes to progress to this round. She is brilliant on return and will look to attack the vulnerable Kasatkina serve as often as she can.
Verdict: Vondrousova to win in three (5/2)
These two are currently locked at 2-2 in their head-to-head rivalry. Kasatkina actually won in straight-sets when they met at the French Open six years ago. This will be an interesting encounter that should offer a little more than monotonous baseline rallies.
Both of these players love the drop-shot and I think this could be quite a cerebral affair. Kasatkina served awfully in her opening match and that’s where I see Vondrousova getting some joy. I think she is going to get plenty of chances to let that lefty forehand loose. Still, Kasatkina is a grinder and I can easily see this going to three sets.
Jessica Pegula 1/3 | Camelia Giorgi 23/10
The metronomic Jessica Pegula looked undeterred in her tricky first-round match against compatriot Danielle Collins, eventually winning the match 6-4, 6-2. It was by no means a perfect performance from Pegula.
She won a highly commendable 78% of her first-serve points. But she really struggled on her 2nd delivery, winning a paltry 27% of her 2nd serve points. The first set was characterized by plenty of breaks.
But she looked far more composed in the 2nd set and ultimately won comfortably, hitting 19 winners and committing just 12 unforced errors. World No.3 Pegula has been a bastion of consistency this season (though she is still to win a title).
She reached a final in Qatar and a further three semi-finals. She has once again shown decent clay-court flair this season. She reached the semi-finals of the Charleston Open before a quarterfinal run in Madrid (where she reached the final last year).
She has lost all five of her Grand Slam quarterfinals (including here last year) and will be desperate to make a lasting impression this year.
31-year-old Italian Camelia Giorgi had the daunting task of taking on home favourite Alize Cornet in her first-round match. And the first-set played out very similarly to the Pegula-Collins match, with both players struggling with their serve (which is a recurring theme in Giorgi’s career).
Giorgi pulled through that messy first-set but would trail 4-2 in the 2nd. But she rallied to win the final four games in impressive fashion. Giorgi has oft been criticized for focusing too much on off-court distractions. But it would be wrong to underestimate her.
She won a WTA 1000 title at the 2021 Canadian Open and she won her 4th career title at this year’s Merida Open. She hits the ball as hard as anyone and can devastate on her day. She actually double-bagled Sloane Stephens en route to that Merida Open title.
But she lacks a key ingredient that Pegula has in spades: consistency. She also tends to thrive on faster surfaces that allow her to flatten out her groundstrokes.
She likes the one-two punch of a big serve and forehand winner. That’s not the key to success here. Having said that, she did reach the 4th round here last season (beating Aryna Sabalenka on the way).
Verdict: Pegula to win in straight sets at 5/6
This will be the 7th meeting between these familiar foes. Pegula holds a commanding 5-1 head-to-head advantage. It’s slightly misleading as Giorgi has pushed Pegula to three sets in each of their last three meetings (including at this year’s Indian Wells Masters).
I think Pegula is going to waltz through this match. She seemed to have found her rhythm in the 2nd set against Collins and I can’t see Giorgi maintaining a high enough level to take her down.
