FRENCH OPEN DAY 1 PREVIEW - WTA

As promised in our previous post, Master Ace and I will be providing day to day coverage of this year's French Open, right from our living rooms (where else?).  For those of us who follow us on Twitter and read our words we will be helping you out in Suicide Pool by giving you choices of who we think will win each day's match.  Have no idea which match to watch?  Tired of the same old faces on ESPN, ESPN2 and Tennis Channel.  We will provide suggestions on matches that you need to watch if only to discover someone new and interesting for whom to cheer. 

Remember, Serena, Maria, Ana, Jelena etc will not be around forever.  If you don't get on the bandwagon now, when will you.  So without further ado, here is the OOP for tomorrow's matches.  

Court Phillipe Chartrier 

Radwanska v Zhang (Radwanska)

Williams (S) v Lim (Williams)

Court Suzanne Lenglen

Bencic v Williams (V) (Bencic)

Piter v Kerber (Kerber)

Court 1 

Hantuchova v Jaksic (Jaksic)

Hesse v Meusberger (Meusberger)

Court 2 

Feuerstein v Govortsova (Feuerstein)

Kirilenko v Larsson (Larsson)

Court 3 

Kanepi v Niculescu (Kanepi)

Tomljanovic v Schiavone (Schiavone)

Court 6 

Schmiedlova v Zheng (Zheng)

Beygelzimer v Suarez-Navarro (Navarro)

Court 7 

Beck v Pironkova (Beck)

Cetkovska v Lepchenko (Lepchenko)

Court 17 

Min v Muguruza (Muguruza)

Shvedova v Davis (Davis) 

Spin's Match to Watch

I know everyone will be picking the match between Belinda Bencic and Venus Williams.  It will be a celebration of youth v experience.  Bencic, one of this blog's favourite players to watch has been doing incredibly well especially during the clay season.  She made the semis of Charleston and comported herself quite well in Madrid in a losing effort against Serena Williams.  Venus, after putting on a wonderful display reminiscent of her 1999 run to her lone Rome title against Annika Beck in Rome, lost in the next round to Carla Suarez-Navarro, a result that really did not surprise anyone.  I am a bit amazed that there are rumours that the Sisters will be playing doubles at this year's French Open, but I will have to see it to believe it. 

The Spin's match to watch will be qualifier Grace Min going up against Spain's own Garbine Muguruza.  Muguruza started the year off exceptionally well, winning her first title in Hobart and going on to push Venus Williams in a losing effort in Auckland.  Since then her results have tailed off.  Grace Min is the lone American to make it through the qualifying rounds at this year's French Open.  She is a counter puncher and it will be interesting to see her game plan against Muguruza who hits a big ball.  Both women are extremely competitive so there will be lots of in your face points as the match goes on.  This one will be a thriller and it will be a really good time to take a look at the woman who could face Serena Williams in the second round of this year's French Open. 

Ace's Match to Watch

Petra Cetkovska vs Varvara Lepchenko

When healthy, Cetkovska can be a solid player and can cause major upsets in a tournament. She snapped Na Li's unbeaten streak in Doha. Lepchenko is a very solid player on clay where she defeated Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani during Fed Cup play in 2013. She has not had the results so far in 2014. In their last meeting, Cetkovska won a three setter in Charleston and I think Cetkovska gets the win setting her up with a chance to make a run to the second week.