TennisSection previews the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as Iga Swiatek takes on Mona Barthel in the Round of 64 on Saturday, July 24th, 2021.
Will Mona Barthel pull off a stunner to move through? Will Iga Swiatek get a good win under her belt to kick off her campaign? Friday’s contest will be an interesting one, to see whether Swiatek will be able to play at the level we know she has to be a medal contender. Who will move on to the Round of 32 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics?
Iga Swiatek is coming into this tournament with some confidence, considering she won her maiden grand slam at 19 years old last year and has had more great results in slams and other tournaments as of late. While clay is her favorite surface, she’s shown that she is an all surface player, doing well in Wimbledon and other hard court events, she’s the clear favorite here, and assuming she can adjust to the conditions here in Tokyo, she has a great chance to move through to the Round of 32 here at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Mona Barthel is coming into this matchup with not very much confidence, considering who her opponent is and her results in recent years. She’ll have to hope her opponent is off her game if she wants a chance to move through tomorrow, otherwise, she won’t have much of a chance to go through. However, if there were to be a miracle, she would have to try and attack Swiatek’s backhand as much as possible, as that should help her from being able to defend against Iga’s favorite pattern of going to the forehand and ripping it. It’ll be a tough ask, but anything is possible.
Iga Swiatek and Mona Barthel played once before, with Iga Swiatek leading the head to head 1-0. This makes it even harder to see how Barthel has a chance tomorrow, considering Swiatek’s win came in a very dominant win over Barthel while she was in her prime, being the no.1 seed at the tournament they met at. If she could do that years ago, imagine what the result could be like tomorrow, Barthel doesn’t have much of a chance tomorrow, so with any opportunity that comes her way, she will absolutely need to go for all of them with full force.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Iga Swiatek to win.
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