With raining being a premature end to yesterday’s play at the French Open, Sunday will see a total of 15 matches occurring. Defending champions Garbine Muguruza and Novak Djokovic will continue their campaigns. Muguruza faces a tricky encounter against home favourite Kristina Mladenovic, who has won more matches on the clay then the Spaniard. Meanwhile, Djokovic will be aiming to continue his winning record against Albert-Ramos-Vinolas. He has already defeated the Serbian on three previous occasions without dropping a single set.
The four matches to follow on Sunday :-
Milos Raonic vs. Pablo Carreno Busta
This match got pushed out to Court 1 on a busy Sunday schedule with several matches rained out yesterday, but could be a worth a trip out to the soon-to-be demolished bull ring court. A four or five-set battle could easily happen between these two, and the atmosphere on this intimate court would be thrilling. Raonic is 3-0 against the Spaniard, having defeated him three times in 2016. However none of those matches were not on clay, a surface that favors Carreno Busta. Raonic has underperformed in 2017: after finishing last year at #3 in the rankings, he’s only #15 in the Race to London. Carreno Busta looked very strong in defeating the higher-ranked Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets on Friday. Pablo has a great opportunity here to defeat another higher-ranked player and advance to his first major quarterfinal.
Venus Williams vs. Timea Bacsinszky
This is a rematch of last year’s Roland Garros round of 16, where Bacsinszky defeated Williams in straight sets. The Swiss has played so well again at this year’s tournament, dropping only nine total games through her first six sets. Timea will look to make the quarterfinals in Paris for the third straight year. Venus has also not dropped a set through three rounds, but she has not been to the French Open quarterfinals since 2006. Venus should draw confidence from her great runs at last year’s Wimbledon as well as this year’s Australian Open. I expect a much tighter affair than last year’s straight set contest considering Venus’ recent form at majors.
Garbine Muguruza vs. Kristina Mladenovic
Mladenovic has survived injury and two extended final set battles to reach this marquee fourth round matchup. Will the Frenchwoman have anything left against the defending champion? She’ll look to draw energy from the support of the French crowd. Muguruza has not reached any finals in the past year since winning her first major, but she has looked very solid through three rounds. Let’s see how Garbine handles the moment in her first high-profile match as the defending champion, and with the crowd solidly against her.
Novak Djokovic vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Djokovic really struggled in his third round match, needing five sets to defeat 41st-ranked Diego Schwartzman. The defending champion had several mental and emotional lapses, seemingly competing with Andy Murray for the title of crankiest player in Paris. Novak will need to find better form against Ramos-Vinolas, who plays so well on the clay and made last year’s Roland Garros quarterfinals. Djokovic is 3-0 against the Spaniard, and has never dropped a set in those meetings. It’s been a disappointing 52 weeks for Djokovic since last year’s French Open victory, but I expect Novak to regain much better form in this matchup.
