Former world no. 1 Venus Williams survived a major scare on Saturday, edging past Alize Cornet to advance to the fourth round of the 2016 French Open. There she will meet the ever-dangerous Timea Bacsinszky who booked a place in the round-of-16 with a comprehensive straight-sets win over Pauline Parmentier.
Read on below for a complete breakdown of this blockbuster matchup. While you’re at it, you can check out our fourth-round previews of Djokovic vs. Bautista Agut and S. Williams vs. Svitolina.
Tennis News and Previews
Venus Williams vs. Timea Bacsinszky Betting Preview
Where: Roland Garros, Paris
When: Monday, May 30
Line: Venus Williams (+180) vs. Timea Bacsinszky (-240) – view all French Open Women’s Singles lines
TV Broadcast: Tennis Channel
Betting on Venus Williams (+180)
Venus Williams’ quest for a first French Open title is still very much alive after recording a thrilling 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-0 victory over local hope Alize Cornet in the third round on Saturday. It was a gritty performance by Williams who needed one hour and 58 minutes to produce the three-set victory. With the win, Williams reached the second week of Roland Garros for the first time in six years.
Waiting in the next round for Williams is the talented Timea Bacsinszky. This will be the third meeting between Williams and Bacsinszky in the WTA Tour, with Venus winning each of their previous two encounters. For Williams to extend her dominance against Bacsinszky today, she will need to find ways to limit her miscues. She committed a whopping 30 unforced errors in the three-set win against Cornet. Williams has recorded an incredible 71 unforced errors over her first three matches in this year’s French Open.
Williams is 6-4 in her last 10 matches.
Betting on Timea Bacsinszky (-240)
Timea Bacsinszky moved into the fourth round of the 2016 French Open with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Pauline Parmentier. It was a fantastic performance from Timea Bacsinszky who needed one hour and 23 minutes to record the straight-sets win. With the victory, Bacsinszky advanced past the third round of the French Open for the second consecutive year.
Things are bound to get tougher, though, for Bacsinszky as standing in her way in the next round is Venus Williams. The 2015 French Open semifinalist has never beaten Williams in their two previous meetings. That being said, they haven’t played each other since the 2014 US Open, and neither encounter came on clay.
For Bacsinszky to record the all-important victory, she needs to continue her excellent return play and put pressure on Williams’ serve. Bacsinszky converted five of her seven break point chances against Parmentier in the previous round. In this tournament thus far, Bacsinszky has converted 16 of her 27 break point opportunities for an incredible 59 percent success rate. She will be licking her chops at the prospect of facing a Williams serve that was somewhat shaky in the round of 32. Williams put just 57 percent of her first serves in play against Cornet.
Bacsinszky is 8-2 in her last 10 matches.
Writer’s Prediction
Williams (+180) beats Bacsinszky in three tough sets.
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