We have reached the semi finals of the 2021 French Open, which means only four men and four women remain on their respective sides of the draw. In the women’s fixture, each of the four remaining players are on the hunt for their debut Grand Slam championship, but only one will be victorious.
Enjoy our free daily picks and predictions for each round of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (31) vs Tamara Zidansek
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Tamara Zidansek will face off in the semi finals at Roland Garros. It certainly isn’t the French Open semi final that many were predicting going into the tournament, as both Pavlyuchenkova and Zidansek are through to the final four at a major tournament for the first time in their careers.
However, given the form of these two women over the past two weeks we are set for a seriously competitive match. Both Pavlyuchenkova and Zidansek have played multiple three set matches so far at Roland Garros, including a pair of marathon matches in the quarter finals. This semi final match will be the first career meeting between world No. 85 Tamara Zidansek and world No. 32 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Although she has been on the pro tour since 2006, Pavlyuchenkova has once again showed the tennis world how much strength she possesses. The Russian’s powerful groundstrokes have been on full display during her run to the semi finals and she will once again look to take on the role of the aggressor against the younger and more inexperienced Zidansek.
As she has done throughout the tournament, Pavlyuchenkova will look to attack her Slovenian opponents first serve in their semi final matchup. Zidansek lands 67.7% of her first serves and wins 61.2% of those points.
Welcome to the Slam semifinals, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
A decade after making her 1st Slam QF at 2011 Roland Garros, the 29yo Russian snaps her 0-6 record in Slam quarterfinals to edge Elena Rybakina 67 62 97 to make her 1st major semifinal.
Pavs’ perserverance pays off. pic.twitter.com/LAQa0TkQAP
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) June 8, 2021
Tamara Zidansek, who became the first woman from Slovenia to reach the last eight at a Grand Slam, has a game that has been designed to succeed on clay. The 23 year old is very quick across the baseline, and her forehand can be both damaging enough to win a point and timed well enough to reset rallies.
Although she has been a professional tennis player for less than half the time as Pavlyuchenkova, Zidansek boasts a 172-52 (.768 winning %) career win-loss record on clay, vastly superior to her Russian adversaries record, which is 105-72 (.593).
Ultimately, Pavlyuchenkova has come through a much tougher fixture than Zidansek to reach her debut appearance at a Grand Slam semi final. We believe Pavlyuchenkova’s experience and recent form will see her overcome Zidansek and reach the 2021 final at Roland Garros.
Tennis Pick: Head to Head – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (-164)
Barbora Krejcikova vs Maria Sakkari (17)
The 17th seeded Maria Sakkari will take on the unseeded Barbora Krejcikova in the second semi final at Roland Garros in 2021. In what has been a wild French Open when looking at results on the women’s side of the draw, Sakkari is the highest seeded player that remains in the tournament.
Contrastingly, Barbora Krejcikova burst onto the scene of women’s singles tennis in May of this year, winning her maiden WTA event in Strasburg just last month. Krejcikova has ridden that recent run of form all the way to the semi finals at just her fifth career Grand Slam tournament. Although Sakkari has the higher ranking, Krejcikova holds a 2-0 lead over the world No. 18 in their career head to head.
Maria Sakkari will be coming into this semi final having recently played what was arguably her best ever match at a Grand Slam tournament, defeating reigning French Open champion Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-4. The Greek landed five aces and put 26 winners past the clay court maestro in what was an unforgettable performance. Other than her third round clash with 14th seed Elise Mertens, Sakkari has not dropped a set at Roland Garros in 2021, as she looks to be getting better as the tournament gets deeper.
Consider the moment seized 👏
In her first career major quarter-final, 🇬🇷@mariasakkari earns the upset over defending champ and No.8 seed Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-4. She’ll face Krejcikova for a spot in the final.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/y4cWZwUnn2
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 9, 2021
Similarly, Barbora Krejcikova has only dropped one set so far this tournament, and it was in her first round clash against Kristyna Pliskova. The Czech’s most memorable victory so far was her third round 6-3, 6-2 victory over Elina Svitolina, however her 7-6 6-3 quarter finals win over the 24th seeded Coco Gauff was a great test of her mental strength.
Krejcikova will take plenty of confidence out of her record on clay, owning a remarkable 221-86 (.719 winning %) win-loss record on the surface in her 11 year career. Although she has less experience on clay, Sakkari still owns a 150-84 (.641) record on the surface.
Even though Krejcikova has been in solid form lately, she is somewhat of an error prone player. In her quarter finals match against Coco Gauff, the Czech coughed up six double faults in just the first set alone.
Given the form that Sakkari is in, we think her strong service game and dazzling play at the net will see her advance to a debut Grand Slam final appearance at the 2021 French Open. The 17th seed landed 83% of her first serves against Swiatek in thei quarter final matchup, while also winning 75% of her points at the net.
TennisPick: Head to Head – Maria Sakkari (-178)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
