It’s day 10 of the french open, and we are now into the quarter-finals.
We will see the bottom half of the draw take on their QF opponents. Here are my predictions for the four quarter-finals taking place today.
Dominic Thiem vs. Alexander Zverev
This match has been dubbed the “princes of clay” as both players are under the age of 25.
Dominic Thiem is an Austrian professional tennis player who has a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 4, which he first achieved on 6 November 2017. He has won ten singles titles on the ATP Tour.
Alexander Zverev is the 2nd seed at Roland Garros and the youngest player in the top-20 at 21 years of age. In May 2017, Zverev entered the ATP top-10 for the first time after defeating Novak Djokovic in the final of the 2017 Italian Open, thus winning his first Masters 1000 title.
The win made him just the 4th different player to beat Djokovic in a Masters 1000 final, after Nadal, Murray, and Federer. He won a second consecutive Masters 1000 title when he defeated Roger Federer at the 2017 Canada Masters, eventually reaching his career high ranking of World No. 3.
They have played each other six times, and Dominic Thiem has won four of them but most recently, it was Alexander Zverev who beat Dominic Thiem on clay, in straight sets in Madrid.
My prediction: I’m going with Zverev in five sets.
Sloane Stephens vs. Daria Kasatkina
10th seed; Sloane Stephens will face 14th seed; Daria Kasatkina who has taken this tournament by storm.
Sloane won her first grand slam in 2017. She became the lowest ranked player to win a women's singles title and the first American woman, apart from the Williams sisters to win a GS since the legendary Jennifer Capriati in 2002.
Daria Kasatkina is a Russian tennis player who reached her career-high singles ranking of 11, and 43 in doubles. She is coached by Vladimir Platenik and has won one singles, and one doubles WTA title. She won the french open as a Junior in 2014. She caused an upset in the previous round, taking out 2nd seed; Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets.
My Prediction: Sloane Stephens in three sets.
Yulia Putintseva vs. Madison Keys
Born in Russia, but playing for Kazakhstan; Yulia Putintseva comes into the tournament unseeded, and had never made it further than the first round until now. She knocked out Johanna Konta in the first round, and Barbora Strycova in the fourth round.
Madison Keys was on the other side of the net in the 2017 US Open final, playing fellow American; Sloane Stephens who she joins in the quarter-finals of roland garros. She is coached by former world number 1, and three-time grand slam champion; Lindsay Davenport.
My prediction: Madison Keys in three sets.
Marco Cecchinato vs. Novak Djokovic
Marco Cecchinato has been the talk of the mens draw. He won his first ATP title earlier this year. In the first two round, he had a relatively nice draw, but in the third round he took out 10th seed; Carreno-Busta and in the fourth round, knocked out 8th seed; David Goffin.
In April, Marco Cecchinato won his first ATP title at the Hungarian Open. In doing this, he became the first Sicilian tennis player to win an ATP title.
He will face Novak Djokovic. He has won 12 grand slams, five ATP tour finals, 30 Masters 100 series, 12 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments and held the number 1 spot in the ATP rankings for 223 weeks. In 2016, he became one of only eight players in the history of tennis to achieve the career grand slam.
My prediction: On paper, you would have to go with Novak Djokovic but I’ve got a feeling Cecchinato may be able to trouble the former world number 1. I’m going for a Cecchinato win in four sets.