Will the Latvian start another run at Roland Garros?
Five years have passed since the then 19-year-old Jelena Ostapenko claimed a spectacular overall victory at the 2017 French Open. A triumph, however, that the Latvian was never able to build on. In three of her subsequent four appearances in the women’s singles of the only Grand Slam tournament played on clay courts, Ostapenko failed in her opening match.
However, the now 24-year-old was able to avoid that fate this year. The Latvian swept clear over Lucia Bronzetti 2:0. Now she faces Alizé Cornet, a local hero who has qualified for the women’s singles at the French Open for the 18th time in a row. However, in the run-up to the duel between Alizé Cornet and Jelena Ostapenko, the odds are swinging in favour of the Latvian.
It is worth noting that both women did not let anything go in their opening matches. The Frenchwoman was on the court for just 58 minutes on Tuesday. Her Latvian opponent needed just nine minutes more for the two-set victory. The match between the two women, who have been lacking in consistency throughout their careers, will be a serious one.
We see the greatest value for Alizé Cornet against Jelena Ostapenko in betting on the Frenchwoman with an Asian handicap of +4.5 games. This would also include a two-set win for the favoured Latvian with, for example, 6:4 and 6:4 or 7:6 and 6:3.
Alizé Cornet – Statistics & current form
Current world ranking: 40
Position in the seedings: unseeded
The 32-year-old Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet started her professional tennis career back in 2005. The starting shot was here at Roland Garros, where she participated by wildcard at the tender age of 15 and promptly recorded a first round victory.
In the meantime, the lady from Nice is taking part in the French Open women’s singles for the 18th time, where she only reached the last 16 once in 2015 and 2017. In total, she has “only” 20 wins in 18 years at the only Grand Slam tournament that is played on clay courts.
Won only eight of the 20 singles in 2022
However, another run by the Frenchwoman does not seem unlikely at all. After all, Alizé Cornet just played her most successful Grand Slam ever at the Australian Open 2022. The 32-year-old reached the quarter-finals in the singles.
Apart from this impressive run, however, the former top-10 player had little success in 2022. Her smooth 2-0 opening win over Misaki Doi, in which she surrendered just two games, was only her eighth win in 20 singles in a mixed season.
Strong serves and strong returns help her to a straightforward opening win
All the more impressive was the manner in which Cornet claimed the opening win, scoring on her first serve 79% of the time and allowing just one break point against her, which she even managed to fend off in the end.
The Frenchwoman, who converted 60% of all returns into points, was also on her opponent’s serve. The player from Nice managed five breaks in just 58 minutes of play. This is one of the reasons why Alizé Cornet’s betting on the 32-year-old with a positive handicap of +4.5 games against Jelena Ostapenko is so popular.
Jelena Ostapenko – Statistics & current form
Current position in the world ranking: 13
Position in the seedings: 13
Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, 24, has experienced many ups and downs in her young career. After coming from nowhere to win the French Open as an unseeded player in the 2017 season, she failed to reach the first round in three of the subsequent four editions of the women’s singles at Rolland Garros.
In general, the lady from Riga only managed to start a good run at Wimbledon in 2017 and 2018, when she reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
Won 15 of 23 singles matches in 2022
The Grand Slam winner has never completely disappeared into oblivion. However, further Major titles are still a long time coming. In February, Ostapenko won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where she secured her fifth singles title on the WTA Tour and won another WTA 500.
The world number 13, who won 15 of her 23 singles matches in 2022, was thus assured of a place on the seedings list at Roland Garros. She impressively confirmed her role as favourite against the Italian Lucia Bronzetti, which was not always a matter of course.
38 Winner in the opening match
The 24-year-old’s style of play is particularly moody and depends on her form on the day. On one day, she succeeds at almost everything in her high-risk attacking game, producing numerous spectacular winners. And on the other day, her error rate goes through the roof and she goes down without a sound.
Looking at the performance data from the first round, in which her 38 winners clearly outshone the 23 unforced errors, the Latvian is nevertheless favoured going into the second round.
Alizé Cornet – Jelena Ostapenko Direct comparison / H2H-balance
Head to head: 2:2
The two ladies have faced each other a total of four times so far and therefore know each other well. Two victories each have been recorded on both sides. The last time Jelena Ostapenko won 2:0 was in Luxembourg 2021.
Alizé Cornet – Jelena Ostapenko tip
When it comes to Alizé Cornet against Jelena Ostapenko, the prediction tends to go in favour of the Latvian, who is not only significantly higher in the WTA world rankings, but who also won the French Open in 2017. However, the Frenchwoman will by no means be without a chance, especially as Cornet shone in the opening match with her strong service and precise return game. If the Latvian, who has an extremely risky style of play, doesn’t manage everything straight away, Ostapenko can quickly become unnerved.
There is a lot to be said for giving the Frenchwoman an Asian handicap of +4.5 games. That includes not only every win by the local hero, but also many constellations in which the Latvian prevails somewhat less clearly than in her opening match.
