Sloane Stephens vs Greet Minnen Prediction & Betting Tips - Saint-Malo, France, Qualifying

Prediction published on 07/05/2023, 03:04  by Kennedy Kechula | Modified on 08/05/2023 at 10:45 in Tennis Predictions

Top seed Sloane Stephens and unseeded Greet Minnen will on Sunday contest the final of this year’s L'Open 35 de Saint-Malo on an outdoor clay court. This is Stephens’ first final in over a year and she will be confident of adding to her accolades, especially after beating Minnen last season in their only other previous encounter. The American won that match in the first round of the US Open in three sets. Stephens, a former US Open champion and former world number three, had struggled to take hold of her season before arriving in Saint-Malo and had a losing record. Her four wins here have allowed her to tie her record at nine wins and nine losses and now for the first time in 2023, she has the chance to record more victories than defeat. Her rise to the final, her first since February last year when she won the Abierto Zapopan, has been nothing short of impressive as she has lost only one set. This has allowed her to move up eight places to number 40 in the WTA live ranking and another win will see her move up to 35th place which is the highest she will be ranked so far in the season.

Despite playing more in the Challenger and ITF Circuits, Greet Minnen has not struggled with consistency like Stephens and is firmly in control of her season. The Belgian national has won 29 of the 36 matches that she has played and this has culminated in her advancing to four finals. Three have been in the ITF Circuit where she won two titles in Sunderland and Porto. She lost in Altenkirchen in her last final and will want to make amends by winning her first-ever Challenger title. Minnen has been ranked as high as number 69 in the women’s game but arrived in Saint-Malo as the 173rd-best player in the world and started the season outside of the top 200. Her success at this W125K tournament has accorded her her largest leap up the world rankings as she is up 38 places to number 135 and can move further up to 120th with a win on Sunday. Minnen isn’t a renowned performer on clay but with how she has performed on the surface this season, she will fancy her chances even more.