Djokovic and Nadal almost there
It's semifinal Friday in Paris. While the finalists are already set in the women's singles and men's doubles competitions, the men's singles and women's doubles semifinals will be played today. Everyone is waiting for Djokovic and Nadal to make the dream final come true and as both Tsitsipas and Schwartzman get their hard earned respect from the market, I think value can rather be found in the women's doubles matches.
Seeded pairings peaking
First up on Court Suzanne-Lenglen will be Czech #4 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova against Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic who are seeded #2. Both teams already won the French Open, Krejcikova/Siniakova in 2018 and Babos/Mladenovic in 2019. This year, the Czechs had to survive a little scare in their second round match against Brady/Dolehide as the Americans led by a break in the third set. Their compatriots Kenin/Mattek-Sands also took a set away from Krejcikova/Siniakova in the quarterfinals.
Babos/Mladenovic only lost one set so far against Christian/Olmos. They arguably had the easier draw so far, but still came here in impressive fashion. Both teams know each other well since they belong to the top women's doubles for a few years now. The head to head has Babos/Mladenovic in front 2-0, but both matches were played on faster courts (indoor hard at the WTA Finals in Singapore and grass in Birmingham). I think Babos's powerful game will be neutralized the most by the slow clay and with both Krejcikova and Siniakova showing some good form in singles as well over the last few weeks, I bet them at +137 underdog odds.
Singles? Doubles? Swiatek!
You would have needed a bit more luck predicting the two pairings in the other semifinal. Both Guarachi/Krawczyk and Melichar/Swiatek haven't been among the favorites this fortnight. However one of them will have a shot at the title on Sunday.
Iga Swiatek surely is the biggest story of the French Open. Not only did she make the final in just her second appearance with the pros, only losing 23 games along the way, the 19-year-old Pole could become the first woman since Mary Pierce in 2000 to win both the singles and doubles competition in Paris. Her partner, Nicole Melichar, is an experienced doubles player and despite teaming up for the very first time, they didn't lose a set so far. After a win over Knoll/Kovinic and a retirement from Siegemund in round two, they beat Peschke/Schuurs and Muhammad/Pegula 6-3 6-4 each.
Alexa Guarachi and Desirae Krawczyk pulled the biggest upset of both doubles competitions when they beat #1 seeds Hsieh/Strycova 6-4 7-5. Sometimes all you need to take the next step is a win over a superior team. This might have been the one for the Chilean-American pairing, who then beat Aoyama/Shibahara 6-0 6-4 in the quarterfinal. They played together all summer and won the WTA title in Istanbul.
It's always difficult to speculate on a player's overall condition, but it's safe to say that Swiatek never had as many messages and requests before. She might just come out and be the best player on court once again, but I'll take the risk, play the equally in-form team of Guarachi/Krawczyk and hope for the Polish wunderkind not to be 100% focused on this doubles match with the greatest match of her career coming up tomorrow.
