World number 14 Victoria Azarenka will look to put the Parisian weather behind her when she takes on Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the second round of the 2020 French Open. This match will be played on Wednesday, September 30 and could begin at around 12.00 pm local time (11.00 am BST). Get the live streaming options of this Victoria Azarenka v Anna Karolina Schmiedlova match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Victoria Azarenka v Anna Karolina Schmiedlova Head to Head
This will be the first match between Azarenka and Schmiedlova in their competitive careers.
Also Read:
Azarenka Overcomes Weather, Kovinic
It was a prickly start to her first round match at Roland-Garros when Azarenka – and to be fair, her opponent Danka Kovinic as well – refused to remain on court in the cold even as the organisers deliberated on whether to continue with the match.
Azarenka was leading 2-1 in the first set at that stage and once the irate Belarusian, and Kovinic walked off the court, they remained away for nearly an hour waiting for the weather to get better. While the reason for the stoppage was the drizzle, the mild controversy occurred because of the players’ reluctance to continue waiting in a weather that in Azarenka’s words was far different from what she experienced back home in Florida.
The 10th seed returned back to complete a demolition job, winning 6-1, 6-2 to set up a second round meeting with Schmiedlova but by the looks of things, this weather isn’t going to change too quickly.
The biting cold will continue to remain a part of this tournament and the focus will be on the top players, like Azarenka, on how well they adapt to it – whether it’s their attire or movements or practicing with these rather heavy balls itself. That’s something Azarenka did rather well in round one, it’s over to round two now to see how well she goes.
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Schmiedlova Wins a Break-a-Thon against Venus
It was a first round match that fluctuated throughout with both players struggling with their holds. In the end, Schmiedlova was able to overcome the American tennis legend Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4, but not before the two players were broken a total of 10 times in the entire match – that’s half their service games!
Where Schmiedlova seemed to have scored over Venus is her first serves – she got 66% of those in as compared to her opponent’s 52% but more vitally then won 58% of those that went in while the American won just 50%.
There was one bigger factor in play though. Schmiedlova benefitted immensely from Venus’ unforced errors which began to mount rather rapidly as the first set wore on. Venus hit 27 unforced errors in the first set alone, which was three more than what Schmiedlova did in the entire match.
Against Azarenka, Schmiedlova might not have that kind of a luxury, which is probably why she might need to be super-aggressive from very early on. Does she have the pedigree to challenge Azarenka throughout the match though?
Azarenka v Schmiedlova Prediction and Tip
This should be another straightforward encounter for Azarenka, especially now that she would have a couple of days of break between the matches to reassess the conditions. A straight set win again but could see a fight in one of the sets from Schmiedlova.
Tip: Over 17.5 games in the match: 5/6 (bet365)
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The French Open 2020 will be played from September 27 to October 11. You can watch & bet on the French Open here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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