After some enthralling tennis last week, second Grand Slam of the year French Open has moved into the business end of the competition, where no player can afford to relax.
Though some top seeds in the women's singles like Maria Sharapova might have been thrown out of the competition, there are several star players to liven up the atmosphere in the last few remaining days at the Roland Garros.
One such player is the seventh seed, Ana Ivanovic, who might not have been on top of her game, but the Serbian has managed to reach the quarter finals of the women's singles in the French Open. She has even dropped a set in the first, second and fourth round, but came back to win the game.
But this is what champions are made of, and Ivanovic will be eyeing for a place in the semis. However, before this she has to face Elina Svitolina in the quarters on Tuesday.
Svitolina has been decent and had to give her all to secure a spot for her first grand slam quarters as she defeated local favourite Alize Cornet. The score read 6-2 and 7-6. Svitolina might want to progress further as well, but she knows the tough ask in facing Ivanovic.
Ivanovic will go in as favourite as she enjoys a cent percent record against Svitolina, winning all their six encounters.
Ivanovic is expected to face the winner of the other quarterfinals between Lucie Safarova and Garbine Muguruza and the former might be high on confidence after defeating the defending champion, Maria Sharapova in her last match.
Safarova has looked in ominous touch as she has not dropped a single set in the competition and her fourth round encounter against Sharapova was no different, showing the Russian the exit door with the score reading 7-6 and 6-4.
Safarova took an aggressive approach against the former champ and it worked wonders for Safarova, who dismantled Sharapova with her game on the court. If Safarova can put up similar performances throughout the competition, it will not be a huge surprise if she wins the 2015 French Open Women's title as well.
"I knew Maria is an amazing player and I needed to play aggressively and come forward for the points so I'm really happy,' Daily Mail quoted Safarova as saying.
'I'm so happy, it's amazing, it was a great match today and the crowd were so good," she said after the match.
Garbine Muguruza, on the other hand will be trying to create an upset win by defeating Safarova and end her glorious run so far.
Where to Watch Live
Both the quarter finals are scheduled for 2pm local time (5:30pm IST,8am ET, 1pm BST) start.
Country | TV Broadcaster |
India | Neo Sports and Neo Prime |
US | NBC and ESPN |
United Kingdom | Eurosports 1,2 and ITV |
Australia | Fox Sports |
Country | Online links |
UK and Europe | ITV Player and Eurosport Player |
US | Watch ESPN, NBC SPorts Live |