Tennis Betting: 2020 French Open Women’s Final
The 2020 women’s French Open is down to its championship match on Saturday in Paris. An unpredictable tournament was expected, and an unpredictable tournament is exactly what has unfolded. This women’s French Open marked the improbable rise of a qualifier, Nadia Podoroska, who became the first qualifier in the history of the French Open to make the semifinals of the tournament. Only three seeded players reached the quarterfinals, meaning that a majority of the eight quarterfinalists were unseeded. After all this chaos, the final matches an unseeded player who is performing like a giant, against a top-four seed who is answering every challenge. Let’s look into this unusual but very compelling matchup. It lacks star power but should be a quality match.
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Iga Swiatek vs. (4) Sofia Kenin
Odds: Swiatek -168
There is a clear contrast in this French Open women’s championship match. Iga Swiatek is the hot player who is on a roll and has not yet encountered anyone who can cool her off. Swiatek hasn’t lost a set at this tournament, but that doesn’t capture the full measure of her dominance. She has won nearly all her sets decisively. She has not needed a tiebreaker to win any of her 12 sets. She hasn’t even been taken to 7-5 in any of her sets. The closest set she has played was a 6-4 set in the second round, and that is the only 6-4 set of her tournament to date.
In the six matches Swiatek has won, here are her scores over 12 sets: 6-1, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1. She is absolutely demolishing her opponents left and right, easily playing the best tennis of anyone in the field, including her opponent on Saturday, Sofia Kenin.
Some might think this makes Swiatek the favorite, and that’s a reasonable view, but there is a strong argument to make that even though Swiatek is on fire, Kenin can douse the flames and win this championship.
Kenin, it needs to be said, won the Australian Open earlier this year, so she has already played in and won a major final, whereas Swiatek is playing in her first major final. Kenin will likely benefit from that edge in experience. What’s more, is that Kenin has become the player in women’s tennis who is good at overcoming adversity. She saved a set point in the Australian Open semifinals to beat World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty. She overcame three break points in the third set of the Australian Open final to beat Garbine Muguruza, who had already won two major championships. Kenin was playing in her first major final, and yet she outfought and outlasted multiple major champions on that big stage. She is fearless, and she bounces back whenever something bad happens.
Kenin lost the second set of her quarterfinal against Danielle Collins. She promptly responded by winning the third and final set, 6-0. Kenin led Petra Kvitova in Thursday’s French Open semifinal 5-3 in the second set and was two points away from the match. However, Kvitova responded by winning the next two games and tying the set at 5-5. Kenin could have folded, but she calmly regrouped and won the next two games to take the set, 7-5, and the match in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.
Swiatek is playing better tennis, but Kenin is the better problem-solver when things get tough. Both players can easily be seen as the favorite – Swiatek based on current form, Kenin on big-match experience. Ultimately, the slight edge goes to Kenin, but don’t be surprised if Swiatek steals the show on Saturday.
Pick: Kenin
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Dave Golokhov is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Dave, check out his archive and follow him @davegolokhov.