In what could turn out to be an interesting encounter the world number 16 Karolína Plíšková will be up against the 35th-ranked Sloane Stephens in the first round of the 2023 French Open on Sunday, May 28. Get the predictions and odds of this Karolína Plíšková v Sloane Stephens match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Karolína Plíšková v Sloane Stephens Head to Head
There have been five previous meetings between these two players and Stephens leads 4-1. On clay, this record reads 1-1.
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Plíšková With Some Mixed Results on Clay This Year
She is a former world number one but as far as preferences about playing on specific surfaces is concerned, Pliskova hasn’t had the best of times on clay. This isn’t to say she is absolutely underwhelming on it but only three of her 15 WTA titles have come on this surface.
Add that to the fact that Pliskova hasn’t once made it past the third round since the 2017 French Open and has been knocked out of this competition in the very second round three times in a row and you know she wouldn’t enjoy playing a world number 35 first up here.
Even this season on clay has been rather strange for Pliskova. For starters she has featured in only two such tournaments – in Stuttgart and in Rome.
At the former, Pliskova shocked Maria Sakkari and Donna Vekic before expectedly running into some issues with Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. At Rome, however, Pliskova was beaten by Anna Bondar in the very first round.
Things could get rather intriguing in this opening encounter.
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Stephens Coming off Rabat Semifinal
Opting to play in a tournament that close to the start of a Grand Slam, Stephens looked to have made a good decision as she won three successive matches for the first time this season to reach the semifinal of the Rabat Open.
It’s her defeat at the hands of Lucia Bronzetti that was surprising to say the least. Or probably it should be expected by now.
Bronzetti was a 9/5 outsider coming into that match and yet, Stephens lost 6-1, 6-1. Now one might argue this could been to do with a bit of a disinterest knowing the challenges that lay ahead at the French Open but it could also be attributed to Stephens’ up and down form.
At her best, Stephens has touched the world number three, won a Grand Slam and was a finalist here. But there are times that she is not at her best and during such times, we have experienced results like the one in Rabat.
What would be interesting to now note is if she can take advantage of Pliskova’s issues on clay and can use them to her own advantage.
Plíšková v Stephens Prediction and Tip
While Pliskova starts off a favourite here we reckon Stephens, at 11/10 to win this, might not be a bad option.
Tips:
- Low Risk Tip: Over 8.5 games in the first set: 2/5
- Moderate Risk Tip: Stephens to win: 6/5
The 2023 French Open will be played from May 28 to June 11. You can get all the tennis betting news with our tennis betting blog here. Also get rest of the tennis match previews here.
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