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An in-form Samantha Stosur will enter the first round of the French Open as heavy favourite to advance when she takes on Slovakian Kristina Kucova. Join The Roar for live scores from around 11pm (AEST).
The Australian enters the French Open in some strong form, as she always seems to be at this time of year on her favourite surface.
After a disastrous start to 2017, which included being left out of the Fed Cup team and nearly losing the No.1 Australian ranking to Daria Gavrilova for the first time in 450 weeks, she has turned it on and is suddenly an outside chance at winning the second grand slam of the year.
Stosur started to pick up some wins in Prague and Madrid, but her best moments came in Strasbourg. Despite inconsistencies in her play and brain explosions that almost saw her bomb out on multiple occasions, she made the final and took out the tournament.
The final in itself was a topsy-turvy match for Stosur as she was broken in the opening game, then battled hard to lose the opening set before getting her booming forehand and serve working to get over fellow Aussie Daria Gavrilova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Stosur of course, made the semi-finals of the French Open in 2016 before being blasted off the court by this year’s No.4 seed Garbine Muguruza.
Kucova, on the other hand narrowly made it into the main draw without having to qualify, being just a handful of spots inside the cut-off, despite not playing a match since the start of May in Prague.
Despite clay being the experienced Slovakian’s favourite surface, it’s been anything but in 2017 and with injuries hampering her progress, she has picked up just one win in three tournaments, as well as losing a Fed Cup rubber on the red stuff.
While none of her losses have been against low ranked opponents, Kucova has still bean beaten comprehensively, and if Irina-Camelia Begu, Richel Hogenkamp and Kirsten Flipkens can walk through easily, Stosur should be expecting to do the same.
For Kucova, it’s a question of fitness and being in the match long enough to see Stosur’s often error-riddled game come to the surface. If she can hold her own on serve, then she is a chance but breaks of serve have been far too easy for opponents to find throughout the clay court season.
The pair have never faced off before this meeting.
Prediction
There is never much for certain about Stosur, but this should be as close as it gets. The Australian should pick up a straight-forward victory and ease into the second round.
Stosur in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this French Open match from 11pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.