TennisSection previews the 2021 French Open as Victoria Azarenka (15) meets Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (31) in the Round of 16 on Sunday June 6th, 2021.
Victoria Azarenka is a former Semi-Finalist here at Roland Garros, and has been impressive so far in Paris. Can she advance to the Quarter-Finals here for the first time since 2013? Or will Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova cause the upset here after an impressive start to her campaign? Who will win and advance to the Quarter-Finals here at the 2021 French Open.
Victoria Azarenka is ranked #16 in the WTA world rankings and is the fifteenth seed here at Roland Garros 2021. A winner of two Grand Slam singles titles, the Belarusian is still an extremely good player and should be considered a threat on any surface. She is a former Semi-Finalist here at the French Open, and will be hoping for a strong week here as she attempts to regain her top-10 ranking. While she has been in poor form lately, she has started well here at the 2021 French Open, most impressively destroying Madison Keys in the Third Round in straight sets, breaking serve seemingly at will. Although clay is not her favorite surface, she should be considered the favorite to advance here against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and the draw is opening nicely for her here in Paris.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is currently ranked #32 in the WTA world rankings, and is a former top 15 player. The Russian has been impressive so far here at the 2021 French Open, and caused a stunning upset over third seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the Third Round. The Belarusian was one of the main contenders for the title here in Paris, so it was the shock of the tournament so far. Pavlyuchenkova is a highly experienced player and has won twelve titles over the course of her career, so even though she enters this match against Victoria Azarenka as the underdog, she is very capable of causing yet another upset here at Roland Garros 2021. Her confidence will be sky high, and she will be backing herself to cause a second consecutive upset here in Paris.
This will be the seventh time that the two players are facing each other on the ATP Tour, with Azarenka leading the head to head series 5-1. They last played in Monterrey in 2019, with the Belarusian winning in straight sets. Given her dominance over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, I am going with Victoria Azarenka to get the win here, advancing to the Quarter-Finals here at the 2021 French Open. She is very experienced and is in better form at the moment, so I expect her to come away with a hard fought win, possibly in three sets here at Roland Garros 2021.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Victoria Azarenka to win.
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