Fourth seeded Sofia Kenin will be up against Czech, seventh seed Petra Kvitova at the 2020 French Open on Thursday, October 8 with the timings still to be decided. Get all the live streaming options of this Sofia Kenin v Petra Kvitova match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Sofia Kenin v Petra Kvitova Head to Head
There have been two previous matches between Kenin and Kvitova, and both have been won by the Czech. The first came at the Miami Open of 2017, where Kvitova was taken to a third set before she routed Kenin in straight sets on the clay of the Madrid Open last year.
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Kenin Continues to Get Stretched…and Win
The ramifications of a 6-0, 6-0 rout at the hands of Victoria Azarenka at the Italian Open look to have long forgotten. Or, may be, it’s that loss that looked to have spurred Kenin into action because while it’s not been all smooth sailing for Kenin in this tournament that has followed, she has looked inspired.
Inspired to fight. Inspired to not go down in a hurry. And inspired to come back from most situations and win.
She has been stretched to three sets in four of her five wins. Come back from a set down in two of those.
Kenin has also absorbed the pressure from her opponent’s comebacks, first against Luidmilla Samsonova in the opening round and then as recently in her last match against fellow American Danielle Collins.
It was a gritty first two sets of the match alright. Kenin broke Collins just once in the first set but that was all she needed. She was then a break up at 3-2 in the second but Collins showed why she had made it that far by pulling level and breaking Collins at 5-4 to making it a set apiece.
That, unfortunately, was the last game she would win as Kenin bombarded her out with 14 winners in the final set and broke her thrice to win it 6-0.
Kvitova’s experience will be a totally different ball-game but the Australian Open winner knows she has a sniff at making it two Grand Slam titles in the season. She can be expected to show a similar grit again.
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Kvitova Yet to Drop a Set
Kvitova had come into the French Open having played just a single, non-tour level match on clay, and it had come in June. Hosted in Czech Republic, the Tipsport Elite Trophy saw a host of top Czech players slug it out to get valuable practice in the hope the season kick-started soon after the pandemic break.
The world number 11 lost that match, to Marketa Vondrousova and was done with clay. No tour level tournaments at the start of the season on that surface either, as she looked to conquer the hard courts of US Open.
Unfortunately for her, Kvitova was knocked out in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows but even in the lead-up to the French Open there was no sign of the Czech, former world number two. No Italian Open, Istanbul Cup or Strasbourg Open preparations for Kvitova.
Which is why Kvitova wasn’t one of the top few favourites at the French Open either. Nobody knew how her form looked like more than the five matches she had played since the pandemic break ended – and she had lost two of those as well.
Kvitova has lived up to the form-temporary-class-permanent adage in this tournament. Granted, she hasn’t played any seeded opponent yet in the tournament, but there have been a few tricky ones, all of whom could have troubled Kvitova on clay given she had never passed the fourth round here since 2012 and only once before made the semifinal at the French Open.
And the hunger to get there was on display in the quarterfinals, smashing four aces and 22 winners to go with five breaks of serve in her 6-3, 6-3 win over Laura Siegemund. That followed wins over the local Oceane Dodin, the tricky Jasmine Paolini, youngster Leylah Fernandez and the fighting Shuai Zhang in the previous matches.
Can she now make it to her first ever French Open final?
Kenin v Kvitova Prediction and Tip
Kvitova’s unbelievable form puts her at 1/2 to win this and while she will hold the edge, we wouldn’t be discounting Kenin just yet. Expecting a longish battle here.
Tip: Over 21.5 games in the match: 10/11 (bet365)
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The French Open 2020 will be played from September 27 to October 11. You can watch & bet on the French Open here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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