The schedule for Day 5 at Roland Garros is absolutely packed, as rain washed away most of the action on Day 4. However, while a lot of big names will be playing on Thursday, May 30th, I’m most interested in a meeting between Irina-Camelia Begu and world No. 29 Linda Noskova. Begu got off to a late start to this season, as an injury had her out of commision until late March. But Begu has played a clay-court heavy schedule since then, and the Romanian made the fourth round in Rome. Now, I like her chances of upsetting Noskova in similar conditions.
Begu was unable to beat Danielle Collins in Rome, with the American’s baseline power being way too much for her. But Collins is a very unique opponent and there aren’t many players that have that ability to hit people off the court. So, I’m not putting too much into that loss. Instead, I’m focusing more on Begu’s ability to bounce back, as she earned a 6-2, 6-2 win over Julia Riera in the first round here. Begu has now won 12 of the 16 matches she has played this year, with all of them coming on clay. And she’s 114-79 on clay in her WTA career.
It’s just hard to overstate how important it is to factor in conditions when handicapping a match. Begu might not possess as much talent as Noskova, but the 33-year-old really has a good feel for how to play on clay. And her ability to construct points is going to be a big factor here. Noskova has already had a lot of success on hard courts in her young career, but the 19-year-old has played only 10 matches on clay at the WTA level. She’s 4-6 in those matches.
