French Open 2020: Sofia Kenin - the higher the stakes, the better
Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin is an easy favorite in the 2020 Roland Garros final. However, she is warned about her opponent, Iga Swiatek from Poland.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Oct 10, 2020, 09:47 am
The very short 2020 clay court season did not start well for Sofia Kenin. In fact, catastrophic. That was almost a foregone conclusion with the draw in Rome, when Kenin was assigned to Victoria Azarenka in round one. The experienced Belarusian, actually more on the hard court at home, shot Kenin from the court, not letting her win a single game. The fact that the tournament in the Foro Italico has only limited predictive power for the French Open in terms of women's tennis was already evident last year: Amanda Anisimova rowed helplessly over the Pietrangeli against Kristina Mladenovic. Only to defeat Simona Halep in Roland Garros a few days later and only lose to Ashleigh Barty in the semi-finals.
Sofia Kenin's entry into the finals at the third and final Grand Slam tournament of the year shows two things above all: In the women's category, almost anyone can beat anyone. And: When the stakes get higher, Kenin gets stronger and stronger. See not only her success at the Australian Open 2020, the American with Russian roots also put an exclamation mark on a major last year: With the win against Serena Williams here at the French Open.
Swiatek wins against Halep
Iga Swiatek had just had a painful learning experience and had no chance against Simona Halep. The fact that the Polish woman managed to get an impressive revenge against this very same Simona Halep a little more than a year later was not only a surprise in terms of the clear result: Halep had only played on ashes after the resumption of play and won the tournaments in Prague and Rome . And had traveled to Rome as a clear favorite.
19-year-old Swiatek, on the other hand, had played five matches after the Corona break, three of which were lost. The last before Roland Garros in the first round of Rome against Arantxa Rus from the Netherlands. Siwatek could become the first player since Justine Henin in 2007 to win the French Open without losing a set. At the same time, she could do the same as Jelena Ostapenko: The Latvian had not won a title before the triumph in Paris.
There is no empirical value for this final, Kenin and Swiatek have never played against each other at the WTA level. Everything is conceivable: that 19-year-old Swiatek in the manner of Naomi Osaka in New York in 2018 simply overrun her final opponent. Or that the 22-year-old Kenin finds ways to win a close match with high stakes. Like the Australian Open final against Garbine Muguruza or the semifinals in Roland Garros against Petra Kvitova.
Here is the single tableau at the French Open
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