- Trading Grass Court Tennis - May 29, 2018
- Rome Challenger & Madrid WTA Match Previews - May 9, 2018
- Munich & Istanbul ATP Tour Match Previews - May 5, 2018
We continue our preview of matches from The French Open, Roland Garros, however today we switch our attention across to the Women’s side of the draw, and the Round 2 match up between the Latvian world number 19, Anastajia Sevastova and Canadian world number 57, Eugenie Bouchard.
This is the third time these players have met, the first time on clay. Sevastova won their most recent encounter on the grass in Mallorca in 2016, with Bouchard winning in Doha earlier that year. As for recent clay court form, Sevastova lost to Simona Halep in Stuttgart, got to the Final in Madrid, where she lost to the Romanian again, before bowing out of Rome last week to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Round 2. Bouchard lost in the opening Round of Istanbul to Cepelova and then reached the Quarter Finals in Madrid, eventually succumbing to Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Canadian decided not to play Rome last week and instead took extra time out to prepare for Roland Garros. In Round 1 this week, Sevastova breezed past Germany’s Annika Beck 6-2 6-2, whilst Bouchard came from a set down to defeat Japan’s Risa Ozaki 2-6 6-3 6-2.
On serve in Round 1, Sevastova won 66% of her service points and held serve 78% of the time. This compares to her recent clay court mean numbers of, 58% service points won and 69% service hold. Sevastova’s serving stats look pretty strong, and she should win a good few free points on serve today, especially if Bouchard’s sometimes erratic returning game shows up. Bouchard’s serving stats in her Round 1 win were, 64% service points won and 69% service hold. Her recent clay court mean numbers are, 55% service points won and 61% service hold. Bouchard is by some way the inferior server in this match up, and she’ll need to improve drastically on these numbers if she is to stand any chance against Sevastova’s attacking returns.
Onto the return of serve, and in Round 1 Sevastova won 51% of her return points, 63% of her break points and her opponent held 44% of the time against her. These compare to her recent clay court mean numbers of, 46% return points won 48% break points won and 59% opponents hold. Bouchard in Round 1 won 46% of her return points, 56% of her break points and her opponent held 58% of the time. These compare to her recent clay court mean numbers of, 45% return points won, 46% break points won and opponents holding 61% of the time. Sevastova edges the return of serve numbers also, and with her likely to be more dominant on serve, Bouchard will need to convert a very high % of break point chances if she is to stand any chance of breaking today.
Both players possess an attacking mentality off the ground, and will look to go after the ball at every given opportunity. Sevastova is most certainly the more consistent from the back of the court, has better serve serve and return numbers and is in the better clay court form. That being said, if Bouchard brings some of the tennis that beat Maria Sharapova in Madrid earlier this month, then this match could really light up.