The underdog, on newspaper, coming to the match is Barbora Krejcikova. The Czech Republic-native entered the French Open as the 33rd-ranked participant on Earth. However, she battled her way through a few hard matches, including big wins over Americans Sloane Stephens and Coco Gauff. She really started to cause a stir when she knocked off Elina Svitolina, the no. 5-ranked participant in the world, at the next round. Krejcikova are also tasked with another closing on Saturday, as she and Katerina Siniakova have made it at the women’s doubles final.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova arrived at Paris since the 31st-ranked player in the world. However, she didn’t seem like the massive underdog that her positioning may have showed. She did not lose a set in her first two matches, but needed to go the distance in the next three, including beating Aryna Sabalenka, the no. 3 player in the world, at the next round. She also had to take her down doubles partner Elena Rybakina, at the quarters, before beating Tamara Zidansek from the semis in straight sets.
This is absolutely the furthest Pavlyuchenkova has made it any significant, losing in the quarterfinals six times, and has been eliminated from the year’s Australian Open in the first round too.
