The highlight of Monday’s schedule on the women’s side looks to be the opening match between Elina Svitolina and Elena Rybakina. The winner of this one would fancy their chances in the quarter finals with either Jasmine Paolini or Elina Avanesyan awaiting on Tuesday.
Svitolina avenged her recent BJK Cup loss by taking out Ana Bogdan in straight sets. She held her nerve after failing to convert a first set point in the opener, breaking the next time round on her way to a 7-5 6-2 win. Her performances at slams since returning have been fairly strong, making the fourth round or better in all but one of her five tournaments in that time.
Despite coming into the tournament with a 30-5 record to her name in 2024, there hadn’t been a great deal of hype about the Kazakh’s chances here. She has continued her good form in the French capital this week, reeling off three more straight sets wins to earn her place in the last 16.
Svitolina will be relieved that the rain that plagued the first week of the tournament is going to have subsided, meaning this match will not be under the roof. The Ukrainian is hitting her forehand well right now and should be able to hold her own in the slower conditions. Rybakina is a fairly decent mover on clay for someone of her stature but it still could get exposed here, especially if combined with a bad service day.
Prediction – Elina Svitolina in three sets
