Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the WTA Roland Garros match.
Elena Rybakina recovered and corrected her mistakes from the first round. In the third round, she is set to face Jelena Ostapenko. The 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko started the season strongly, but her recent form in Paris has been less convincing — a match against Rybakina will be a serious test.
Elena Rybakina
Rybakina has shown solid consistency throughout the clay-court season, particularly against top-50 opposition. In her last 20 outings on this surface against such players, Rybakina has recorded 17 wins. After a difficult opening match against Julia Riera, she responded strongly by dispatching Iva Jovic in just 85 minutes (6:3, 6:3). Rybakina hit five aces and delivered an impressive serving display, landing 70% of first serves and winning 69% of points behind them. In their five previous meetings, she leads the head-to-head 3-2, including a clay-court victory in Rome in 2023.
Jelena Ostapenko
Jelena Ostapenko came into Roland Garros with seven wins from ten clay matches, including a title in Stuttgart. However, her performances in Paris have been far from convincing. Ostapenko needed three sets to get past both Veronika Kudermetova (World No. 58) and Caroline Dolehide (World No. 67). Across those two matches, she hit 14 double faults and averaged just 54% on first-serve accuracy, though Ostapenko did win 69% of points behind it. With such inconsistency, she is unlikely to pose a major threat to Elena Rybakina, who has won their last three encounters.
Elena Rybakina vs Jelena Ostapenko Prediction
Elena Rybakina is well equipped to absorb Jelena Ostapenko’s aggressive play and to capitalise on her frequent unforced errors. Ostapenko has often faltered at Roland Garros even against players ranked outside the top 50, and her chances against World No. 11 Rybakina appear limited.
