World number 16 Madison Keys faces the 40th-ranked Chinese player Shuai Zhang in the first round of the 2020 French Open with the match to be played on Sunday, September 28. It begins at around 12.30 pm local time (11.30 am BST). Get the live streaming options of this Madison Keys v Shuai Zhang match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Madison Keys v Shuai Zhang Head to Head
In what was an interesting rivalry between 2011 and 2016 between these two players, Keys and Zhang played each other five times. Keys won twice, including once at Rome and the second time in Tokyo while Zhang nudged past her opponent at the Australian Open, Acapulco Open and once on the ITF circuit.
Their only meeting on clay, in Rome, ended 6-2, 6-4 in favour of Keys.
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Keys Made Two Tournament Appearances Since Return
Between 2010 and 2017, Madison Keys had made at least the quarterfinal of each Grand Slam bar the French Open at least once. Over the last two seasons, Keys has booked herself a place in the semifinal of the French Open in 2018 and then a quarterfinal in 2019 – signalling a turnaround in her fortunes at Roland-Garros.
It was in 2019 when Keys won her first clay court title too, beating Caroline Wozniacki in the final of the Charleston Open.
Earlier this season, the American also featured in a clay court exhibition tournament where she defeated Caroline Dolehide and Sofia Kenin but strangely enough opted not to feature in any of the tournaments on clay after resumption.
Her two appearances have been at the Cincinnati Open, where Keys fell in the first match she played, and then at the US Open where she was ousted in the third round by Alize Cornet. And having missed out featuring in Istanbul, Rome or Strasbourg, it would be interesting to see how she starts on clay in Paris.
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Zhang Coming off Strasbourg Quarterfinal
While the 40th-ranked Zhang knocked out in the first round of the Italian Open she bounced back to feature in the Strasbourg Open as a qualifier. Needing to win just one match to make the main draw, Zhang then overcame a set deficit to defeat Ajla Tomljanovic before overcoming French wild-card entrant Clara Burel in the second round.
Against Elena Rybakina, however, Zhang fell in the quarterfinal, unable to match her opponent’s pedigree to lose 6-3, 6-2.
While she has made it as far as the third round at the French Open and the quarterfinal at the Italian Open, some of Zhang’s top performances have come on hard courts. On clay, she has recorded a win over Petra Kvitova six years ago but generally struggled against the big-ticket players.
She would believe, however, she has a chance against Keys who has been action from clay court tennis in a bit.
Keys v Zhang Prediction and Tip
While Keys starts out as a favourite, we believe odds of 1/3 are too short given her own time away from playing on clay. Expecting Zhang to win a set here.
Tip: Zhang to win a set – Yes: 5/6 (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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