??? Roland Garros, R2 preview + prediction:
?? (1) Simona Halep vs. ?? Irina-Camelia Begu
Simona Halep continues her quest for a second Roland Garros title on Day 4 when she faces a familiar foe in the second round. The top seeded Halep faces countrywoman Irina-Camelia Begu, an opponent she holds a dominant 7-0 head-to-head record against. Halep is superb form at the moment and is a big favourite to continue her winnings ways in this match-up.
Halep made a strong start to her 2020 Roland Garros campaign when she cruised past Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4 6-0. Halep faced an early deficit in her match with the Spaniard when she trailed 2-4 in the opening set but really stepped it up as she won 10 consecutive games to claim her 15th victory in a row. Halep is the form player on tour on clay and has the best record of any player at Roland Garros over the last 6 years, a runner-up in 2014 and 2017, the champion in 2018 and a quarter-finalist in 2019.
Begu moved her way into the second round in Paris with a hard-fought 6/4 4/6 6/3 victory over Jill Teichmann. Roland Garros has been Begu’s most successful major by far, the Romanian has reached at least the third round stage at Roland Garros in 4 of the last 5 years but will need to produce a miracle performance is she is to reach the round of 32 in 2020.
Begu has only managed to take 1 set off Halep in their 7 previous meetings. The most recent meeting between the pair took place at the semi-final stage in Prague a few months ago, Halep won 7/6 6/3. It was in Madrid 2016 that Begu managed to take a set off Halep in a strange 6/3 0/6 6/1 win for Halep.
All signs point to an easy Halep victory here. Halep’s dominant record over Begu, coupled with her strong form and high level of confidence at a tournament she thrives at all spell big trouble for Begu. Halep is too solid in this match-up, Begu doesn’t have the weapons to consistently hurt Halep and she doesn’t have the consistency or stamina to outlast Halep from the baseline.
Prediction: Simona Halep to defeat Irina-Camelia Begu in 2 sets
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