It’s clay season, and that means we’re on our way to the grandest clay court tournament of the year: the 2019 French Open. Last year, Simona Halep dramatically won her first grand slam there. Will she win it again this year and defend her Roland Garros title? Let’s check out what some key ATP experts are saying.
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BLEACHER REPORT
Pick: Simona Halep
For Steve Silverman, Simona Halep will be the woman to beat at the French Open. That’s according to an article he published for Bleacher Report right after the conclusion of the 2019 Australian Open.
“Simona Halep was the top-ranked player in the world until Osaka took that away from her with her Australian Open title. However, it would be wrong to count out Halep, who broke though and won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open last year.”
Silverman, however, could be singing a different tune today, as Halep has been inconsistent this year. The 27-year-old Romanian has slid down to No. 3 in the world rankings, partly due to here inability to get a win this year. She came close to breaking into the title column at the Madrid Open, but got ambushed in the finals by a streaking Kiki Bertens. It’s been worse for Halep since, as she got embarrassed by Marketa Vondrousova in the second round of the Italian Open.
Having said all of that, Halep is the reigning and defending women’s singles French Open champion. She is priced +350 to win it for the second year in a row.
THE TELEGRAPH
Pick: Simona Halep
The four experts over at the Telegraph, namely Simon Briggs, Vicki Hodges, Charlie Eccleshare, and Molly McElwee also revealed their predictions for the 2019 French Open, with three of them believing Simona Halep will be able to regain her footing and defend her Roland Garros title successfully. The other one in Briggs, though, isn’t a subscriber to that idea. Instead, he’s throwing a curveball by picking Kiki Bertens as his winner at the 2019 French Open. Bertens has been playing topnotch tennis of late. She’s among this year’s tormentor of Halep, whom she beat at the Madrid Open finals. That’s her second title this 2019, with the first one coming during the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy back in February. Bertens, however, has reached past the round of 16 of the French Open just once, when she made it all the way into the semifinals round of the tournament in 2016. Bertens is +900 to win the 2019 French Open.
TENNIS PRO GURU
Pick: Angelique Kerber
Last year, Simona Halep won her first Grand Slam title with a win at Roland Garros. If you ask Tennis Pro Guru, there will be another first at the women’s side of the bracket, as the website thinks it’s time for Angelique Kerber (+1500) to complete a career grand slam. Kerber has won all Grand Slam titles except for the French Open. She came near to winning it last year, when the German reached the quarterfinals, where she lost to Halep.
TOPBET WRITER – RYAN SIMPSON
Pick: Kiki Bertens
View Ryan’s complete 2019 French Open Women’s Singles betting preview here.
