French Open 2022, Semifinals, Thursday, 02.06.2022
The final is calling! The women have almost reached the home stretch at the French Open 2022, as you might expect, there have been one or two surprises along the way. One of them comes from Italy.
The semi-finals on Thursday afternoon will be contested by two players who have never reached this far in a Grand Slam. One of them is a tender 18 years old. Read my Trevisan Gauff tip to find out why I am clearly leaning towards the American!
Right from the start the experts were divided: Iga Swiatek seems to have secured her place in the final, but who will face her there? Cori Gauff and Martina Trevisan are now only one step away.
In particular, hardly anyone would have expected the Italian. Two years ago, she flashed her skills on the big stage once when she reached the quarter-finals, also in Paris.
She didn’t really have a strong first half-year in 2022 until she travelled to Morocco for a preparatory tournament. She beat Garbine Muguruza, among others, and won the title in the end.
In the French capital, the 28-year-old seamlessly continued her performance there. She even made it to the round of 16 without losing a set. She beat Harriet Dart (6-0, 6-2), Magda Linette (6-3, 6-2), Daria Gavrilova (6-3, 6-4) and Aliaksandra Sasnovich (7-6, 7-5).
In the quarter-finals, it finally came down to a duel with Leylah Fernandez. After a tough, intense battle, Trevisan had secured a 6-2, 6-7, 6-3. More than 70% of her first serves are successful, even though she is only 1.60 metres tall.
She has met Cori Gauff once so far, and that was at a time when her opponent was just 16 years old. At the French Open, of all places, they dueled in Round 2, with Italy winning the match 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
With odds of 1.30 to 3.40, she is ahead, probably also due to her tournament performance so far.
The 18-year-old is playing the tournament of her life and has her nerves under control. Her 7-5, 6-0 win over Rebecca Marino in the opener showed her potential, followed by a 6-1, 7-6 win over Alison Van Uytvanck.
Also very strong were the results 6-3, 6-4 against Kaia Kanepi and 6-4, 6-0 against Elise Mertens. In the quarter-finals we saw the American duel against the much more experienced Sloane Stephens.
After an even first set with a 7-5 for Gauff, she left no doubts in the second, snatched a 6-2 and thus reached her first semi-final at a very big tournament.
At 1.75 metres, Gauff is considerably taller than her upcoming rival, but does not record better service game figures. Since it will be a premiere for both players on Thursday, nervousness is likely to be high on both sides.
My Trevisan Gauff Tip
One set Martina Trevisan has dropped in the tournament, none at all Cori Gauff.
Both can serve excellently, but in my opinion Gauff has beaten the somewhat heavier opponents. I expect a very close match, but I think the American has the advantage. My tip is therefore:
Gauff wins with over 16.5 Games!
