10th seed Venus Williams is into Round of 16 without losing a set. Venus opened her Roland Garros campaign against No. 50 Qiang Wang, her most challenging match so far, and won 6-4 7-6(3). Williams then went on to beat No. 90 Kurumi Nara 6-3 6-1, and now No. 59 Elise Mertens with the same score. Elise Mertens defeated 25th seed and Strasbourg finalist Daria Gavrilova 7-6(4) 1-6 6-4, a win that marked her as a potentially dangerous hurdle in Venus’ way. After Mertens beat Richel Hogenkamp in straight sets, there was a possible upset alert on this match against Venus.
Both players have similar, powerful styles. The beginning of the match proved to be key. Venus broke Mertens in the second game which lasted over 8 minutes, and she didn’t look back. Mertens was still trying to play her game, but Venus was playing basically the same game but with better execution. That is why it was almost impossible for Mertens to do any damage to Williams, unless she would significantly raise her level, or Venus dropped hers. Neither occured, Venus got more dominant as the match progressed and won 6-3 6-1 in just 1 hour and 2 minutes.
Next opponent for Venus Williams in the Round of 16 will be her first real test, No. 30 seed, defending quarterfinalist and 2015 Roland Garros semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky. Bacsinszky has dropped off in the past year, but is a very capable on a clay court, as she is proving right now. Bacsinszky has faced Sara Sorribes Tormo, Madison Brengle, and Ons Jabeur, all players within Top 120, and dropped a grand total of 9 games, averaging 3 per match.
Caroline Wozniacki was set to play the American talent CiCi Bellis on Suzanne-Lenglen Court, but as the match between Lucas Pouille and Albert Ramos-Vinolas stretched into a fifth set, the women’s match was moved to Court 2, bringing a crowd that completely filled Court 2. Wozniacki previously faced wild card Jaimee Fourlis and qualifier Francois Abanda, beating the latter 6-0 6-0. Bellis was the Danish No. 1’s first opponent from within the Top 190.
Wozniacki mostly commanded the rallies in the first set. Even though she won the set 6-2, Wozniacki only won 8 more points than Bellis, which shows that it was experience and steadiness in the deciding points that landed Wozniacki the first set. Bellis got more aggressive and precise in the second set, often hitting through Wozniacki. At 2-3 0-40 from Wozniacki’s point of view, Wozniacki asked the umpire to delay the match for tomorrow because of lack of light. When he refused because Bellis didn’t agree, she addressed the supervisor who was in the crowd for the match with the same issue. Play went on and Wozniacki got back to deuce, but lost the game. It started to rain as Wozniacki went to serve, which might have been a factor as to why she got broken, other than Bellis’ excellent performance. The rain intensified, so Wozniacki raised the issue again. Supervisor came on court, asked Bellis who obviously wanted to keep her momentum and continue in the match. After checking the forecast which predicted more rain, the supervisor informed both players and they finally agreed to delay the match. Bellis and Wozniacki are scheduled second on Court 2, Bellis will be serving for the second set at 5-2.
