Garbiñe Muguruza (click to enlarge)
The women’s singles draw at Roland Garros 2017 will feature two middle weekend matches with high intrigue between a title favorite and rising star with the talent to finish this event holding La Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen. One is Simona Halep vs Daria Kasatkina. The other is defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza vs France’s Kristina Mladenovic. Those who don’t follow the WTA tour weekly might not know that Kiki has been one of the best players on tour this year. Honestly, despite Mugu being the defending champion, I would make Kiki the favorite…except…that her back has been hurt and she’s not 100% healthy. She barely escaped losing in both the first and third rounds. Meanwhile, Garbi is starting to look more like the player who broke through in Paris last year.
4 GARBIÑE MUGURUZA d. 27 Yulia Putintseva, 7-5 6-2
13 KRISTINA MLADENOVIC d. Shelby Rogers 7-5 4-6 8-6
Fairways and Forehands 