Irina-Camelia Begu vs Anna Karolina Schmiedlova Tennis Prediction
Irina-Camelia Begu retired in the first round of Nuremberg last week to the eventual champion Larsson, citing left thigh injury. Begu, who won her first career clay title last year at Bucharest, has gone 8-5 in this clay season, which includes a semifinal run at Istanbul (l. eventual champion Parmentier).
The Romanian, who made her main draw debut at the French Open in 2011, posted her best joint-slam result here in 2016 by defeating Vandeweghe, Beck, and Mattek-Sands to reach the fourth round. Begu kick-starts her campaign with a 13-14 record in slam first rounds.
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, the former world #27 who dropped out of top 200 after the 2016 season, is now ranked #77 after her title run at Bogota, where she defeated the former champion Arruabarrena in the final. It was her first title since 2015 when she won Katowice and Budapest.
This resurgence has given the 23-year-old her first direct entry into a slam since 2016 US Open. The Slovak arrives at Paris seeking her first win at the French Open since her third round run in 2014 (d. V. Williams).
The pair has met each other four times during 2013-15, with Schmiedlova leading the series by 3-1. They have had two clay-court encounters, 2014 Bogota and 2015 Rio, with Romanian winning the former (6-3 6-1) and Slovak prevailing in the latter (6-3 4-6 6-2).
Tennis Prediction: Irina-Camelia Begu
Odds: 1.50
