Player’s have now reached the business end of the French Open with only three wins separating them from this year’s French Open title.
French hopeful Kristina Mladenovic will be bidding to reach her maiden grand slam semifinal when she plays Timea Bacsinszky, who defeated Venus Williams in the previous round. Meanwhile, former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki will be looking to continue her solid run against Latvian rising star Jelena Ostapenko.
In the men’s draw, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are closing in on their mouthwatering last four clash in Roland Garros. Nadal, who has only dropped just 20 games in the entire tournament, will play Pablo Carreno Busta on Court Philippe Chatrier and Djokovic will face Dominic Thiem on Suzanne Lenglen.
Kristina Mladenovic vs. Timea Bacsinszky
What a thrilling run Mladenovic has had through the draw, most recently ousting the defending champion Garbine Muguruza in front of a raucous French crowd. Bacsinszky, who is into her third straight French Open quarter-final, will be a challenging and tricky opponent. Timea will throw a lot of different shots and spins at Mladenovic, just as she did successfully against Venus Williams on Sunday. The two have split their previous meetings, and have never met on clay. I give the advantage to the player more likely to seize the moment on the big stage, which would be Mladenovic.
Caroline Wozniacki vs. Jelena Ostapenko
Wozniacki was not favored in her fourth round match against former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, but she has surprised many with her form in Paris on her least favorite surface. Most surprising is her aggressive play: Wozniacki hit 26 winners in each of her last two matches. Ostapenko is a new name to many fans, but has been talked about as a player to watch for some time. The Latvian actually owns a 3-0 record against Wozniacki, including two victories this year on clay. Ostapenko will celebrate her 20th birthday on Thursday, and she may do so while playing in her first major semifinal. Wozniacki will need to continue to play aggressively to overcome her teenage opponent.
Rafael Nadal vs. Pablo Carreno Busta
Carreno Busta needed seven match points as well as four hours and 17 minutes to defeat Milos Raonic in an epic five-set encounter to reach his first major quarterfinal. It’s hard to imagine he will have much left physically or emotionally against Nadal. Rafa has looked extremely strong through four rounds, even by his very high clay standards. Nadal also rarely loses to his fellow Spaniards, and is 3-0 against Carreno Busta. This should be another routine victory for Nadal.
Novak Djokovic vs. Dominic Thiem
This is a blockbuster quarterfinal matchup between the defending champion and the second best player on clay this year. It’s a shame they are meeting this early in the tournament, as both men would be potential finalists if they had landed on the other side of the draw. While Thiem has achieved better clay results this year than Djokovic, Novak is 5-0 in their head-to-head. Their most recent meeting a few weeks in the Rome semifinals saw Novak drop only one game, though to be fair Thiem was just 24 hours removed from defeating Nadal and was admittedly drained. But Thiem has also admitted his game does not match up well against Djokovic’s. I expect Thiem to make this a highly competitive match, as he comes in well-rested and hasn’t dropped a set in Paris. Djokovic has not looked his best in the past few rounds, and will need to up his game if he is to return to the semifinals.
