Roland Garros: Ons Jabeur vs Nao Hibino preview, head-to-head & prediction | French Open 2020

Match details

Fixture: Ons Jabeur vs Nao Hibino

Date: 1 October 2020

Tournament: Roland Garros 2020

Round: Second round (Round of 64)

Venue: Paris, France

Category: Grand Slam

Surface: Red clay

Prize money: Approx. €38,000,000

Match timing: Approx. 2 pm CEST, 5.30 pm IST

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel / NBC Sport | India - Star Sports / Disney+ Hotstar VIP

Ons Jabeur vs Nao Hibino preview

Nao Hibino at the 2020 French Open

Ons Jabuer faces Nao Hibino in the second round of the French Open on Thursday, as she continues her bid to go deep at Roland Garros for the first time in her career.

After a decent American hardcourt season, with quarterfinal and third round finishes at the Western & Southern Open and the US Open respectively, Jabeur had an underwhelming start to the European clay season. She suffered a loss to teenager Coco Gauff in the first round of the Italian Open at Rome.

Jabeur was not all that convincing in her Roland Garros first-round match against Zarina Diyas either. She had to overturn a one-set deficit before taking the match 4-6 6-3 6-1.

Nao Hibino meanwhile started the European clay swing with a loss in the first round at Rome, but found some form in Strasbourg last week. Hibino defeated the likes of Sloane Stephens and Jelena Ostapenko on her way to the semifinals there.

The Japanese international continued her good run with a first-round win against Marta Kostyuk, setting up the match against Jabeur.

Ons Jabeur vs Nao Hibino head-to-head

The second-round match at Roland Garros is the first between Ons Jabeur and Nao Hibino on the tour. The head-to-head currently stands at 0-0 between the two players.

Ons Jabeur vs Nao Hibino prediction

Ons Jabeur at the 2019 French Open

Given her history on tour and superior ranking, Ons Jabeur comes into the match as the favorite over Nao Hibino. But it is unlikely to be an easy outing for the Tunisian.

Hibino's form in Strasbourg would have given her a lot of confidence coming into the tricky cold-weather conditions in Paris. And she showed more of the same effective counterpunching style in her match against Kostyuk.

Jabeur, on the other hand, is one of the more aggressive baseliners on the tour right now. She looks to take the ball early and hit big, which she might be able to do a lot of against Hibino's occasionally loopy groundstrokes.

Hibino will look to extract errors out of the Tunisian, who has an error-prone big-hitting game. But if Jabeur maintains the steady form she showed in the final two sets against Diyas, she should edge the encounter.

Prediction: Ons Jabeur to win in three sets.