Too many favorites – Halep, Svitolina, Mladenovic and ….

The women’s side of the tournament is quite open at the moment.  There are too many favorites to be considered and, with Serena sitting it out, Kerber out of form and Muguruza not playing that well, it has become an impossible task to proclaim anyone as the most favored to win this year’s French Open.

 

The important clay tournaments so far have been captured by Laura Siegemund over Kristina Mladenovic in Stuttgart, Elina Svitolina over Elise Mertens in  Istanbul, Mona Berthel over Krystna Pliskova in Prague, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova over Francesca Schiavone in Morroco, Simona Halep over Kristina Mladenovic in Madrid, and Elina Svitolina over Simona Halep in Rome.

 

Which one of these, or perhaps someone else, could win 7 matches in a row to claim the women’s title at Roland Garros this year?

 

Simona Halep

Simona is highly consistent but lacks the power to barge her way through when absolutely required, because of which in a 7 match format she will invariably comes across someone who will manage to push her around and end her campaign.  It could be Mladenovic, one of the Pliskova sisters, Muguruza or any one of the other hard hitting girls on the tour.    Simona has won 9 of her last ten matches on clay and is a strong but not the only contender for the crown.

 

Elina Svitolina

Elina may not be in the same category as Pliskovas or Mladenovic but she has ample power, and has been having an amazing year so far with two clay titles to her credit.  However, Elina is not a proven entity in slams and lacks the experience to outmaneuver or out hit someone having her best day on court and over the course of seven matches there is bound to be at least one such match where the opponent will be in her zone.  Will Elina be able to squeeze a win against an opponent on  fire?  I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

Kristina Mladenovic

The prospects of Kristina doing better than both Elina and Svitolina seems a little brighter because she has the goods and has been becoming better by the day this year.  Many of her matches, in losses, have been quite close and she surely must have gained invaluable insights from those losses.  Kristina has won 7 of her last 10 on clay and lost two closely contested finals in the process.  She stands as good a chance as anyone else to win at Roland Garros in 2017.

 

Angelique Kerber

Kerber has not had a good clay court season this year but she is still the number one and not to be written off easily.  If she can gather momentum and reach the quarters then she too stands a good enough chance to win the entire thing.  However, will she manage to reach even the second week this time around?

 

Garbine Muguruza

Garbine won it last year and has a whole bunch of points to defend at the French this year and that pressure will not help in winning the tournament.  She is 3 out of 6 on clay so far and showed some signs of revival in Rome but eventually retired against Svitolina in the very first set!  Her chances of doing well seem remote but she is the defending champion and knows how to win at the French Open and therefore makes the conversation here.

 

Karolina Pliskova

Karolina is an ace machine but she has not been able to show good results lately.  Apparently clay is not her preferred surface as she has won only 4 of 8 that she has  played on it this year.  However, she can be dangerous on any surface and can be a contender if her draw allows.

 

Kristyna Pliskova

Kristyna like her sister Karolina is another hard hitting player who has had a slightly better clay season than Karolina in 2017.  She has won 5 of 7 played on clay and reached the finals in one.  She stands a remote chance if the stars align perfectly in her favor.

 

The others

Kuznestenova, Pavlyuchenkova, Schiavone and at least 5 others also stand a pretty good chance to take the trophy home this year!  And, this I believe is the  strength and not a weakness of the women’s tour.