TennisSection previews the 2021 French Open as Victoria Azarenka (15) meets Madison Keys (23) in the Third Round on Friday June 4th, 2021.
A very exciting match awaits us here at Roland Garros 2021 as Victoria Azarenka will face Madison Key for a spot in the Round of 16. Both women are very talented and have had successful careers. This is set to be a very close match with both players capable of winning here, who will get the win and advance to the Round of 16 at the 2021 French Open?
Victoria Azarenka is currently ranked #16 in the WTA world rankings, and is the fifteenth seed here at the 2021 French Open. “Vika” has had a tough start to her Roland Garros 2021 campaign, with two very tight victories in her opening two matches. She was pushed to the limit in the First Round by fellow veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova, and followed that with a very tight straight-sets win over Danish youngster Clara Tauson. While she will have been delighted to have passed both those tests, she knows that she needs to be better if she is to mount a serious challenge on the title here at Roland Garros. With her impressive tactical awareness and ultra-consistent groundstrokes she is capable of going far here in Paris, and enters this match against Madison Keys as the very slight favorite.
Madison Keys is the world #24, and has had a similar path to the Third Round as her opponent Victoria Azarenka. She had a tough three set win in the First Round over Oceane Dodin, before also defeating a talented youngster in the Second Round, in Canada’s Leylah Fernandez. The American has had a rough start to the year before the 2021 French Open, with a poor 3-6 record. One of the best ball-strikers in world tennis, she has the game to challenge anyone on any surface, but considers clay her least favorite. Despite her poor 2021 season thus far, she certainly is capable of winning here if she is able to return well against opponent Victoria Azarenka. She is the slight underdog on paper but this match should be extremely close.
This will be the second time that the two players are meeting on the WTA Tour, with Victoria Azarenka leading the head to head series 1-0. This will be their first match on clay, and it is sure to be a very close and exciting match. Both players are struggling with various issues, with Azarenka struggling with injuries, and Madison Keys with her form and consistency. I expect this to be a very close match here at the 2021 French Open, with the Belarusian prevailing in three sets. They are very evenly matched and it really can go either way, but I think that Azarenka is the more confident of the two at the moment, and should have just enough to squeeze through here. Victoria Azarenka will win, and advance to the Round of 16 here at Roland Garros 2021.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Victoria Azarenka to win in three sets.
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