Fourth seeded Sofia Kenin will take on Romania’s 142nd-ranked and surprise opponent Irina Bara in the third round of the 2020 French Open. This match will be played on Saturday, October 3 and could begin at around 12.00 pm local time (11.00 am BST). Get the live streaming options of this Sofia Kenin v Irina Bara match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Sofia Kenin v Irina Bara Head to Head
There has been one match before this between Kenin and Bara and that came at the ITF level in 2018. Played in the first round of a clay court tournament at Dothan, Kenin needed three sets to get past Bara.
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Kenin Overturns Set Deficit
It will be Kenin’s second successive match against a Romanian here in the third round after she overcame Ana Bogdan in the previous encounter. Kenin was down a set against Bogdan in her second round match and then two break-points down in her first service game of the second set before a switch seemed to have gone on.
Kenin managed to hold on to her serve in that game, and a couple of games later, broke Bogdan to take a 3-1 lead. While the American was broken to love in the very next game, she came back to break the Romanian and serve out the set.
With a firm grasp back in the match, Bogdan’s game began to flail away, while Kenin began to take more and more control of the match. Two breaks of serves put her 3-0 ahead, and another break exchange, followed by two holds for Kenin finished off the contest in a quick third set.
The Australian Open winner had earlier required three sets to get past Luidmilla Samsonova as well, and a third round win here should reduce some of the pain from her 6-0, 6-0 defeat at the hands of Victoria Azarenka at the Italian Open.
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Qualifier Bara’s Big Turnaround
Before the start of this French Open, the 25-year-old Bara had never seen the main draw of a Grand Slam and her career earnings from tennis had been around $500,000. Less than a week later, she has not only made it to the third round of the French Open but also added a further, nearly 40% of her total earnings to her account.
And that has been possible thanks to two brilliant performances; in the first round she crushed Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4 and then in the second she was leading Alison van Uytvanck 6-1, 4-0 before her opponent retired from the match because of fitness issues.
This follows Bara’s first ever main-draw-clinching run in the qualifiers, where she overcame Tereza Mrdeza, Harriet Dart and Richel Hogenkamp in straight sets as well. In short, Bara is yet to drop a set all tournament and having also reached the final of a ITF tournament in the lead-up to this major, the Romanian world number 142’s confidence would be at a peak at the moment.
Kenin, however, will be a tough cookie.
Kenin v Bara Prediction and Tip
While Kenin is a favourite (4/9), what’s to be noted is her erratic play and inability to remain sharp throughout the match. That’s where Bara could look to take advantage of her opponent and push this contest into a possible third set.
Tip: Over 20.5 games in the match: 4/5 (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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