The second day of French Open quarter finals in the women’s draw sees four women hoping to join Aryna Sabalenka and Karolina Muchova in the semi finals. Beatriz Haddad Maia and Ons Jabeur will open play on Wednesday morning with the latter looking to move a step closer to making a third slam final in four tournaments. Having easily won in Stuttgart just two months ago, Jabeur will fancy her chances of taking this one as well.
Haddad Maia had not made it past the second round of a slam before this fortnight, going 0-7 at that stage of the tournament. She has smashed through that barrier this time round, winning four matches to make her first quarter final. It hasn’t all been plain sailing though with the Brazilian having to come from a set and two breaks down to get past Sara Sorribes Tormo, eventually beating the Spaniard 6-7 6-3 7-5. Despite her aggressive style, she is more than capable of hanging on in long matches like this. “I think I work very hard my body, as well, so I believe in myself when we have tough moments,” Haddad Maia said after the 3 hours and 51 minutes epic. “I had a lot of matches more than three hours in my career also. Yeah, as long as the match goes, I think I’m stronger. So yeah, I think it’s one of my qualities.”
Jabeur will have been considered one of the more vulnerable seeds here, having only played one match between Stuttgart and this tournament. However, she has made light work of admittedly weak draw to get to this stage. She most recently beat Bernarda Pera, ripping the American’s serve apart in her 6-3 6-1 win. She broke on all eight occasions but may be considered with her own failure to hold serve too, having struggled in the early stages too.
This may be the end for Haddad Maia, with her lengthy matches likely to catch up with her against an opponent who is a level above her previous ones. Jabeur will want to utilise the drop shot throughout, both to expose the movement of the Brazilian but also to tire her out. She will need to improve on serve from her last match though, even if she remains as effective on return against an opponent whose second serve has been punished in all her matches so far.
Prediction – Ons Jabeur in straight sets
