Anna Blinkova vs Sorana Cirstea Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA French Open

Prediction published on 26/05/2024, 04:06  by Daniel Ngulu in Tennis Predictions

World number 45 Anna Blinkova and 28th seed Sorana Cirstea will meet on Monday in the first round of the French Open. The winner of this second meeting between the two will play either Zhu Lin or Elina Avanesyan next. Blinkova equalled her best result at Roland Garros last year by qualifying for the third round. She will hope to surpass this and qualify for the second week of competition at a major for the first time. The Russian is having a poor season and has compiled a losing record thus far. She was eliminated in the first round in Rabat last time out, suffering her seventh defeat in the last eight fixtures. Her struggles have seen her lose 179 ranking points which in turn has seen her drop 10 places to 55th in the live ranking. Blinkova has compiled an 8-13 record and has lost five of six matches on clay.

Sorana Cirstea is coming off a first-round elimination in Strasbourg. This was the fourth time this season that she had suffered a first-round exit and she will hope this isn’t the case here. To strengthen her confidence, Cirstea has defeated Blinkova before. The two squared off in Dubai in 2020 in their only encounter to date. Cirstea is also a former French Open quarter-finalist and has won her opener here twice in the last three seasons. The Romanian is having a topsy-turvy season and has compiled a 12-12 record. Despite this, she has managed to record one semi-final finish in Dubai and was a quarter-finalist in Abu Dhabi. Cirstea, who is ranked 30th in the WTA, has also made week two of competing in Miami and Rome.