Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open (Roland-Garros) - Paris, France (clay) - main draw

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open (Roland-Garros) - Paris, France (clay) - main draw

flamingowings · All-time great

Hard to see anything but two losses. Hope I'm wrong but..

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I mean, on paper, Heather's isn't bad at all, and she can't complain - lower ranked player (although Hev's 71 doesn't feel too realistic at the moment), not really used to clay, Heather has the H2H adv and won their last meeting, Diyas lost 4 of her last 5 matches, all on clay (the one player she did beat, Trevisan, is 1-12 this year) etc. but then it's Heather, and there would be very few players in the draw that you would actually back her to beat at the moment, so yes, I'm going for another loss as well unfortunately.

Cirstea in contrast is in form, and has had a really good 5 months. She is still in Strasbourg, great chance of making that final, whether that has an impact, as it often seems to, remains to be seen, but it's quite hard to see past her as well, to be honest.

Some cracking, or brutal, whichever way you look at it, round 1 matches mind. Looking forward to it all starting properly on Sunday (I love the earlier start, and Bank Holiday on Monday).

HarryGem · Club Coach

Well I'm going to be a bit more optimistic.

Jo's draw is tough but Cirstea can blow hot or cold in the same match. My concern is that Jo is so badly undercooked in terms of matches played this year. However, if Jo plays to a decent level she has a good chance of winning. Let's hope so as she is defending a lot of points from 2 years ago.

Heather has a very decent chance and personally, given Diyas's recent form, she has little reason to complain about the draw (not saying she is) and I think she can win this quite comfortably if she concentrates on what she is good at and cuts down the unforced errors. Again, like Jo, she is undercooked in terms of matches played this year. A match between two out of sorts players. I'm going for a scrappy win in 2 for Heather.

Good luck to both of them.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

For the betters out there, both are fairly significant underdogs. Heather is an average 2.75 or 7/4, and Jo is largely the same, a little bit more if anything, so if you were going for an optimistic double, that is just a little bit over 13/2, so £1 would return a little over £7.50.

Andy Parker · Strong Club Player

I was surprised to see quite negative reactions to the draw. I would make the Brits very slight favourites in both matches and would be intrigued to see if the bookies agree with me. Diyas is a decent player, but there are lots of worse draws Heather could have had and overall I think Heather will be fairly happy to be playing her. Cristea is a dangerous opponent for Jo Ko, but as with Heather, I'd give them both about a 60% chance of progressing. If that sounds like sitting on the fence, it is, because they have both come up against opponents who are at a similar standard to them, I think.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Posts crossed there Andy, but both clear underdogs at the bookies.

Andy Parker · Strong Club Player

Ace - we overlapped, but that answers my question on the bookies - my glass is always half full, but I'll leave parting with money to others - if the bookies give those odds, then I have clearly underestimated both opponents, and respect to all those on here who said what a terrible draw it was for both our players.

On the other hand... you never know.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

KONTA:
www.tennisexplorer.com/match-detail/

WATSON:
www.tennisexplorer.com/match-detail/

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Andy Parker wrote:
Ace - we overlapped, but that answers my question on the bookies - my glass is always half full, but I'll leave parting with money to others - if the bookies give those odds, then I have clearly underestimated both opponents, and respect to all those on here who said what a terrible draw it was for both our players.

On the other hand... you never know.

It's mainly just Heather's form from my POV Andy. I'd normally gladly take Diyas as an opponent, and there probably are about 80 players I'd consider worse draws, but Heather has been routined in most of her recent matches to largely unspectacular players, even lost to Harriet in straight sets, and worse still, 300 odd Zacarias in straight sets at the BJK Cup. It's just not inspiring at all. When you see her recent results, she's clearly not playing top 100 tennis at the moment (as she's losing constantly in straight sets to these 90-150 type players), so I think I'd have a gloomy attitude against most potential opponents, but obviously hope she can at least surprise me, and get a little bit of confidence back heading into the grass.

I've no doubt those odds are largely influenced by Heather, as opposed to Diyas, as she's not exactly been in great form either.

Andy Parker · Strong Club Player

That explains the odds Ace. I have seen Diyas play and she is OK, solid; a player who you are not surprised to see in the second or third round of Grand Slams, but not really anything more than that. She has been around quite a while too - I remember sitting opposite a big poster of her in an airport four or five years ago in Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan (can't remember which), with these big wrap round shades, looking very much post Soviet chic - she was the poster girl for Uzbek Airways I think. Anyway hopefully Heather can find a return to form - I think Heather remains a good player and is still in her 20's, so her career is definitely not over quite yet. As they say form is temporary, class is permanent.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Pegula v Badosa my prediction for the final

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I would be absolutely delighted with that Jon, well at least one half of it anyway, but don't quite see it. I did have a few quid on Badosa at 66/1 midway through her Madrid breakthrough, more in hope really than expectation, and she is generally now a modal price of 25/1 and around the 10th favourite overall. Stunning clay season for her thus far, but a few tough potential early round matches.

Fantastic addition to the more relevant, top end scene though, and hopefully she can continue her form and momentum.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, like Ace I see the issue making Jo and Heather outsiders is more their own form and how relatively overranked both are on that form plus the surface, more than their particular opponents.

I'd say Jo would be an outsider against about half the field ( Cirstea would currently be top half ) and Heather an outsider against a sizeable majority of the field, including Diyas.

Let's now hope they somehow find better form and beat these odds. All the best, ladies!

HarryGem · Club Coach

JonH comes home wrote:
Pegula v Badosa my prediction for the final

Lots of people are talking up Badosa. She's playing at a pretty high level right now but has a difficult first couple of rounds to negotiate. I like Pegula but she was pretty hopeless last time out. You could probably get quite good odds on this prediction?

This is copied from TF so I presume is correct

(15) Azarenka v. Kuznetsova
Tauson v. Badosa
Fernandez v. Potapova
(WC) Dodin v. (23) Keys