Krejcikova v Pavlyuchenkova betting tips: Little to separate surprise finalists
Published:French Open women’s singles final preview and odds
Two grand slam singles final debutants meet when Barbora Krejcikova faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women’s showpiece at Roland Garros.
Krejcikova prevailed in a semi-final of huge drama against Maria Sakkari as the unseeded Czech saved a match point in a 7-5 4-6 9-7 victory.
Russian Pavlyuchenkova’s progress was more straightforward as she ran out a 7-5 6-3 winner over Tamara Zidansek.
The surprise finalists may not have featured in too many French Open predictions at the start of the tournament, but one of them will be leaving with the €1,400,000 winner’s cheque.
Here we assess the chances of both players in our Krejcikova v Pavlyuchenkova betting tips.
Route to the final
Having cruised through the first two rounds, Pavlyuchenkova has been taken to a deciding set in three of her four matches since.
The 31st seed has seen off three seeds on her way to the final, beating Victoria Azarenka, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.
Pavlyuchenkova’s last four matches have all contained at least 21 games and it is 4/6 for there to be over 20.5 games in the final.
Krejcikova’s dramatic semi-final was the first time she had faced a deciding set since the opening round, with the Czech having seen off 17th seed Sakkari, fifth seed Elina Svitolina, 32nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and 24th seed Cori Gauff.
Krejcikova has had a comeback win after losing the opening set and Pavlyuchenkova has done so twice already, with odds of 18/5 on offer for either player to triumph after dropping the opening set.
Krejcikova has edge in clay-court form
The 29-year-old Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 32nd in the world, has now won 10 out of her last 11 matches on clay after reaching the semi-finals in Madrid and is evens to win her first grand slam final.
Krejcikova, 25, is ranked one place lower than Saturday’s opponent but has spent much of her career as a doubles specialist, having won five grand slams with a partner including the women’s doubles at the French Open in 2018 alongside Katerina Siniakova.
Krejcikova won a warm-up tournament on clay in Strasbourg and is 4/5 to follow her maiden WTA singles title with a grand slam a fortnight later.
Clash of styles makes for intriguing contest
Krejcikova will look to utilise her power advantage. The Czech has served 78 aces on the WTA Tour this season and wins over 60% of service points and two thirds of her games on serve.
In contrast, Pavlyuchenkova has served only 30 aces this season, winning 57.1% of service points and 63.4% of games.
However, Pavlyuchenkova has won 37.1% of return games this term and converted an impressive 50.7% of her break points.
Krejcikova’s percentage of return games won is only slightly lower at 36.6 but she has converted only 45% of her break points.
With their styles largely nullifying each other’s strengths, it is priced at 29/20 for the match to go to a third set.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication