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Larsson is playing in her own back yard before her fans. She reached two finals and one semifinal here so far, which is no coincidence. She said this is her favorite week of the season. Some players find it difficult to play home but Larsson is only getting extra energy in Sweden and that is why she always does well here. The fact she lost the last head-to-head against Strycova is good for this tip because it was a chance for her to learn a lesson. She wants to her back to Strycova and Bastad is definitely the place where she has the best chance for it. Strycova made it into QFs on account on better break point efficiency but her game was not very good. If Larsson opens this more determined and doesn't allow the opponent to take initiative then this odds make no sense. Especially because Larsson always does her best home. She played those two matches well, displayed power, focus, and when that is the case she cannot be underestimated against Strycova, who is not even close to her last year's level. Details

This was just a question of which game over to take. The decision was made to take the over of the first set, and I'll explain why. As the match goes on and Sharapova enters her rhythm, Coco could have more and more problems with her serve and her game. That's why I give her the biggest chance at the start of the match, where the serves should be the main focus.In the last two matches Sharapova went over these odds, even against Diyas, even though she could have ended the set earlier. Coco has three out of four overs on this border on the whole tournament, considering that in two matches the first sets were decided in the tie-break. If we are to look at the whole grass season, out of 11 matches Coco has nine overs. It doesn't matter for her what kind of a profile she's meeting in the match, because first sets can be very uncertain. The focus is on her serve which is one of the most efficient here and which works very well. The problem is the return; against Safarova she earned only two break chances. Sharapova pointed out that it's no picnic to play against a good server, who Coco definitely is. She will need time to enter her rhythm, that's for sure, and I trust her she will handle the set later. Details

Serena was honest and admitted and Venus is in better form. Serene struggled a lot at RG as well as here, in all three of her matches. She was forced to save the day against Watson in the third set after being down 0-3. She was tougher mentally and on account of that manage to win in the end but her problems didn't just disappear. Many experts said that Venus is one of the favorites in disguise . She won it five times and played another three finals. And that says it all. She won all three matches in straight sets and learned her lesson against Putintseva in the second round. Venus's serve was great in two out of three matches, her aggressive game would get her ahead and her timing for going on the net perfect. She knows what to expect from Serena and has thievery she needs to stand up to her. She has the serve, the power, the tactics and the experience for these kind of matches. Also, Serena is not as convincingly as she used to be, not here and not at RG last month. Her results prove it, despite the fact she has only one defeat this year. I'm sure Venus can get a set here and if things fall in place she an even win. Details

There are two reasons why Putintseva reached the second round. Firstly, she played the opponent who uses tactics and outplaying a lot on the court. Putintseva knows how to deal with that both at Grand Slams and otherwise. Secondly, Erakovic had knee problems, which limited her moving. But forget about that match, this is a totally different story. Putintseva can and knows how to deal with player who like to engage into outplaying but she will be met with something entirely different today. Putintseva lost to Knapp, Konjuh, Ivanovic Kulchkova, and Hradecka badly. All of them have good serve and power, which makes it very difficult for Putnitseva to play well. She simply doesn't have the power for it. Venus sailed through he first round, as the 29-2 winner ratio suggests. Brengle is similar to Punitseva, her tennis is based on a lot of running, fighting, toughness and consistency. I would also add that Brengle might be even slightly better than Putintseva, due to more sophisticated shots and more options. Granted, Bregnle is in bad form but even a top-level performance on her part would do nothing against that Venus. Talking about form, Putintseva doesn't have much of it either this season. She advanced from the second round only once at WTA level, when Petkovic retired in Nurnberg. The only h2h between Venus and Punitsteva was played in Montreal last season. Putintseva even had a double break back then after Venus served badly in the opening. But she kicked it up a notch soon enough and limited Putnitseva at five games in total. I expect something like it today as well. Details

Ivanovic sailed through the first round and played a good match. But that match and this one have no relation to one another. The only thing Matttek and Xu have in common in ranking but that's it. Ivanovic knows that she is to face a tougher opponent now and that she will not have it easy today. Xu doesn't have what it takes to respond to Ivanovic's game but Mattek has. She has been through a lot of injuries in her carrier but we all know what kind of a game she has. She won one of the two matches against Ivanovic on Madrid's fast clay court, not allowing Ivanovic a single first set game. The second match finished in 3 sets as well. Mattek proved she can deal with anyone this season even though her opponents weren't Ivanovic's level. Ivanovic didn't beat a player like Matter since March. She destroyed Putintseva, Svitolina twice, Vekic and Gonzalez. None of them have the stle that can see them stand up to Ivanovic's power but Mattek does. She's got the serve, the power, she is fast enough and Ivanovic has every right to be weary about this match. Details

Hogenkamp admitted to taking advantage of the draw for her first ever Grand Slam win. She has not expected to reach the main draw here probably but things worked out for her both in qualifying matches and the first round. But she has never achieved much in her carrier, especially on grass court. A decision to play on clay court mid-through the grass court season says it all. She was never in Top 120 and it's difficult not to note one thing given this season. Hogenkamp was badly defeated to Govortsova, Barthel, Urszula Radwanska and Kvitova this season. She would win 5 games at the most. That was against Kvitova, who won the first set 6-1 and then made things complicated for no reason. I'm listing those players because of their aggressiveness and to show what difference there is between Hogenkamp and powerful opponents. If the four of them could stay at this margin, so can (and should) Sharapova. Sharapova limited Konta(!) to four games and Konta and Hogenkamp aren't even close, especially on grass court. Details

Smitkova has played 12 matches so far in her career, all in Europe. Of the 12 matches, four were played in three sets, and in four more she played at least one set in tiebreak. This year, two out of three matches went over this margin, and the second match against Jankovic stayed at 20 played games. But we should have an important thing in mind. Both Jankovic and Krunic have a strong return, while Smitkova has shown that she's having a lot of problems with the return. Especially on fast courts. True, this grass-court is not what it used to be, but it is still grass-court. Kristyna played over 60 matches on grass-court in her career. True, a lot of them were on the Far East where the competition is weaker. But last year she won the Nottingham title. She lost a set, but four out of five matches went over this margin. She lost to Shvedova at Wimbledon last year 6-8 in the third set, and missed an earlier chance to win the match.
This is a clash of similar worlds, with a similar overture into this match. They have both failed at the European grass-courts, Kristyna lost two last matches in which she was the favorite, Smitkova suffered three back-to-back defeats. They both have far more efficient serve than return. Smitkova has struggled against Jankovic's and Krunic's serve, and it could be even more difficult against Kristyna. But the fact that Kristyna has far worse return than Jankovic and Krunic is in Smitkova's favor. Details

In their only head-to-head match, played at US Open, the margin was set at 17.5. It is a bit lower today but still extremely valuable. Cepelova is miles away from her top game, the preparation for this season hasn't been ideal and all of that was followed by pneumonia, which set Cepelova of her course. her last two defeats are particularity interesting. Marino managed to limit her to two games, Vekic limited her to one in the first set and if she hadn't lost the serve in the second set twice, the win would have been even more convincing. Halep is, on the other hand, extremely motivated here. Last year's semifinal is motivation as well but her premature crash out of the only grass court tournament she did this season as well. She has made a much better preparation for the grass court compared to clay court season. She also said that she is relaxed, which means we could see her top game today.
Cepelova is not a hard-hitter like Mladenovic, who beat Halep in her last grass court match. Cepelova will give Halep the rhythm she needs and once that happens, the Romanian will have a huge advantage. Cepelova is struggling with every aspect of her game, having lost her serve 12 times in the last two matches. That is a massive problem that cannot be made up through other segments of the game. She cannot stand up to Halep at this point in rallies either. She couldn't have done it at US Open either and it will be even more difficult now. Especially because Halep is motivated and relaxed and will have the upper hand at every segment of the game as well as overall quality. Details

Brengle has a good start to this season but times have changed. She is now on a 7-match losing run, having pulled out of two tournaments before playing Eastbourne. The defeat to Hercog was the final part of her bad performances lately. I remember her matches from Stuttgart, the last wins over Garcia and Kvitova and the match against Kerber. But I also remember the bad defeats to Serena, Keys, Stosur. She simply doesn't have the confidence from the early season.
Venus has 5 titles and 3 finials here and I think she can far again. Her game and these conditions can be tough for any opponent. She forced Kvitova, who went on to win the title, in the third set thriller.
Brengle is on a 7-match losing run (in straight sets) and what matters most is that she lost to powerful players with good serves and strong shots - Serena, Stosur, Keys, Tomljanovic. I wonder what will happen today against Venus. The American has the advantage when it comes to everything while Brengle doesn't have the game for grass court. She also doesn't have that confidence from early season. Details

Ivanovic needs to win this convincingly, not matter how she plays. Xu played on European grass court only once up until this season (two years ago in Nottingam) and making it into Wimbledon main draw is alone a huge success for her. Ivanovic is a whole different level. She didn't defend the Birmingham title, which will make her very motivated. Xu will have almost no chance against Ivanovic's serve because she has not yet been face with that kind of power. On the other hand, Ivanovic will have quite a few chances on return. The Serbian needs one convincingly opening and everything here is down to her. Details

Kudryavtseva recorded 4 wins at the first tournament of the season and got into the main draw as the lucky loser. But she got on a 12-match losing run at one point. The beginning of grass court season marked some happier times for Kudryavtseva. She reached the final of an ITF tournament in Eastbourne and lost to Kontaveit (6-7, 6-7) who recorded 27 wins on grass court this and last season. Kudryavsteva beat Paszek and De Brito at that tournament and recorded two more wins in straight sets. She lost to Agnieszka and Erakovic in the last two tournaments.
Yang, on the other hand, is barely a Top 200 player. She is still there because of the ITF tournaments, especially those in the far East where the competition is really poor. Yang is 4-for-4 on grass court and has lost at two tournaments to Aoyama (Aoyama's only win this season, 1-13 record), Ling Zhang, who had her debut matches on grass this season and Yang was the favorite both times.
Kudryavtseva has great experience compared to Yang, especially on grass court. Her serves are better, she is no longer in crisis as her 7 wins and three defeats on grass court suggest. Yang doesn't have much experience in these conditions or good game. She might be good enough for ITF level but not for this level. Kudryavtseva should win easily today. Details

Karolina played 6 grass-court matches last season. Furst three sets in three of them finished as tie-breaks, two finished in 10 games and the only one that stayed at 9 games was the opening set against Lisicki (the second one finished in a tie-break). This is the second match on grass court of this season for Karolina and her focus here will be winning her service games. She has one of the most powerful serves in the world and is prone to playing matches with a lot of games. She is good in her service games and will not have give the opponent much chance there. On return, however, she is struggling. Konta did well against Gajdosova both in return and other segments. Everything worked properly and she can be a very tricky opponent here. That goes for the first set especially where Karolina will be looking to adjust to the surface. That is Konte's upper hand as she already played a few matches on it. But playing against Karolina's serves is not easy. Konte likes to get in the court when returning service and that causes her trouble. Both can win their service games easily early in the set, which could be settled in the very end. Details

Aza passed the test yesterday against Lepchenko. Even though the latter one doesn't have good results on grass, it is known that her aggressive tennis can be troublesome. Lepchenko has no rhythm in her tennis, she would hit the lines, hit deep strokes with which Azarenka had problems and she needed to adjust. But Azarenka has a much easier task ahead of her today. Diyas doesn't have the strength Lepchenko has, Azarenka automatically gets more rhythm in her playing, and that's where the on court difference comes from. Diyas defeated Bondarenko mentally, and Azarenka is a whole new world in that aspect for the Kazakh. True, because of the lower brunt, Diyas has good movements for this surface, but she can't outplay Azarenka. I appreciate Diyas, she works hard on the court, but she hasn't been doing well against Top players this season. She played against Top 10 players three times this year. Serena and Sharapova blew her off with their strength, Makarova won by five games. Azarenka currently isn't a Top 10 player, but that won't last for long. She does have the game style and form of a top player. The match against Lepchenko is irrelevant, in my opinion. It was the first grass match for Azarenka, her first match after Roland Garros, and with all that, she faced a player who doesn't allow for much rhythm on the court. Azarenka is a perfectionist, she said it herself, and there is no doubt that the level of her tennis today will be at a much higher level than it was in the first round. Details

Garcia finished her five straight matches in 3 sets. That is not a coincidence and says a lot. She opened firecely against Maria but then her game declined in the second set and she was forced to save match points in the third one. She is prone to ups and downs, as her results prove. The ups and downs are even more obvious on this surface. Koukalova did horribly against Beck last week. She lost in straight sets (the whole match finished with 20 games and Koukalova lost her service games when serving to stay in both sets). Things seems much better against Coco here but the match still finished with a lot of games. It would have finished with even more if Coco was a bit more focused. This is the third head-to-head match between Koukalova and Garcia. Three of their previous 4 sets finished in tie-breaks which is no coincidence. Good option is first set over (happened both times) but I will go with a total over now. Especially because Garcia is so prone to ups and down. Details

There's not a lot of difference between these two players. They play tennis of similar style with a lot of power. That makes the games over a most logical option. Mladenovic played three really tough matches last week and interestingly, the first sets of all three finished in tie-breaks. Riske has the upper hand here because it's a grass court match and that surface suits her game best. But Mladenovic can stand up to that for sure because she has both power and serve to stay close. I expect another close match with very little chance on return. The first set in both head-to-head matches finished in tie-breaks and there will be even less chances for break points on this surface. And return is the weaker segment with both players compared to their serve. Details

Koukalova is 4-1 in head-to-head matches. Two out of 4 matches finished in 3 sets and in another two, we saw at least one tie-break. Out of the four wins, all 4 finished with a lot of games and the matches were played both on grass and indoors. They have not changed much since and still struggle with the same problems. Both have had a bad year, they're looking for form and they both need a good result and a good game here desperately. It's difficult to expect any of them winning easily today and it's more likely that it will be a close match with lots of ups and downs, which should result in a lot of games. Details

Giorgi won four matches on the grass last year, but in three of four matches, she lost at least one set. She was losing 1-4 in the first set against Marconi here, but she later imposed her game, that is the strength of her tennis. Falconi lacks a response to such strength on this surface, but Krajicek has that in her tennis. She played well in the first round, also played a doubles match yesterday. She got the rhythm of matches here and that means a lot to her right now. She was very efficient on her serve against Dodin, and the return isn't Giorgi's strong suit so we can expect a lot of easy points in that part of the game. I am aware that Giorgi is a landmine with her tennis, but she also sometimes 'gave away' sets, as well as matches. Krajicek isn't without a chance today, a good choice might be a bet on her winning a set, as well as the counter-handicap, but I'm going to go for the overall over. Details

There are no secrets here. Great friends and the doubles partners on the opposite sides of the net. Mladenovic comes here as a prominent favorite, and that's because of her good games lately. This season, actually. But, Babos definitely has a weapon to take this match to an intense ending. Besides, she won the match they played this year. They both had bad grass results in their careers, but they definitely have what it takes to play well. A strong first serve, nice hits after that, lack of the rhythm in the game. This is a winning combo for an over on games on the grass. Especially when this style of tennis is played, with two players who know each other to the bone. The decision for the over on games is for the first set, mostly because of the first grass match this year. I expect very little rhythm at the beginning of the match, they'll be looking for their game, especially on the return where I expect very few chances. The serves should dominate the beginning of this duel. Details

There are really not many situations in which you can bet against Serena. But the circumstances suggest that's a good idea here. Serena is not at her best, which was obvious throughout the tournament. She lost a set in 6 matches, having won in straight sets only against Hlavackova (first time in the main draw this season) an Errani (the player lacking strenght for standing up to Serena. She isn't feeling too good, the flu is affecting her, she cancelled the practice session yesterday. That is one of the two important reasons for this tip. The second reason is her opponent. Safarova proved that she knows how to deal with Top players last season. She stood up to Serena in straight sets great the last three matches and won sets against Top players. She had a great chance to record the first win against Serena at Hopman Cup early this year. That match proved she can stand up to Serena. She's left-handed, has very tricky shots, has the serve, power, confidence and has played a great turnament here. She is not without a chance against Serena and will have a say in this match. Serena knows it will be tough here and Safarova's game here and over the past year makes he capable of getting a set here. Details

Ivanovic has shown more oscillations this year than the previous one. After all, of the 23 matches she played, 11 went into three sets, that's almost half of them. If we add that the fact that four more matches went above today's margin, and one stayed on it, then we should definitely look for a match on more games. In the last 11 matches, nine of them went well over this margin. The match against Gonzales in Fed Cup shouldn't be seen as relevant because the quality difference on the court was obvious. Vekic hasn't done anything in the last year, but thing finally got together here with two wins. Her game was complete, working with Majoli is obviously starting to pay off, and she is aware that she has a chance today. Even though Ivanovic mentioned Vekic's bad movement, I wouldn't agree with that. Vekic herself has said that she has improved that segment of the game, and it was evident in the two matches here on Roland Garros. She is serving well here, the ball has depth and strength, and she can counter Ivanovic with such tennis. After all, so could Shvedova, and Doi for the most of the match. The Japanese was almost as aggressive as Ivanovic, which is somewhat surprising, but so can Vekic, who has show too many good things here and she should be believed in today. On the other hand, Ivanovic lost a set in both matches, which is no coincidence, and there are still some oscillations in her tennis. Details