Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Francesca Schiavone : French Open 2011 Quarter Finals Preview

Francesca Schiavone

It will be the defending champion Francesca Schiavone who will start the proceedings at the Court Philippe Chatrier on Tuesday as she plays her quarter-final encounter against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Schiavone has defied her critics who called her French Open 2010 victory a fluke and proved that she can put her best foot forward as she tries to defend the title. She remains well on course to do so but the absence of hardcore competition has surely helped the Italian. Schiavone would love to keep the momentum going and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova should not make her sweat on her favorite clay court.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has a world ranking of 15 and this is her best performance at the Rolland Garros so far. She is still very young and inexperienced and the occasion might just put her under some pressure. She has been through some long matches in the tournament and has had the fortune of coming on the right side of them.

However, Schiavone’s major competitor and challenger this year is likely to be another Russian by the name of Maria Sharapova who looks in splendid fitness. Sharapova has not been in the best of fitness since last year and this time she is ready to reignite her career. Maria gained some momentum by winning a masters prior to the tournament and has won her games in the French Open so far without any difficulty. She defeated A.Radwanska in her Round 4 match after saving two set points in the second set and turning it around to her favour. She won the game with 7-6 (7-4) , 7-5.

Schiavone would be keen to consummate her revenge against those who kept calling her victory at the French Open 2010 a chance event. Every step that she takes henceforth from the quarter-finals will be a step closer to that revenge. The Italian has played some fantastic power Tennis and she will surely come up with the goods against the lesser ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

In other women’s singles category matches, surprise package Marion Bartoli will take on Svetlana Kuznetsova. The winner from this encounter is most likely to play Schiavone in the semi-finals. Still some hope for Asia in the women’s category as Chinese Na Li will feature in the quarter finals against Victoria Azarenka from Belarus.

French Open 2011 in the women’s singles has not been one to be remember in terms of big names missing out due to injury and fizzled out comebacks. But it has seen the rise of some outstanding new talent which is encouraging.