The WTA Tour’s Italian Open continues with the round o 64 on Friday. Damien Kayat previews two matches as eighth seed Ons Jabeur takes on Sofia Kenin while 24th seed Victoria Azarenka goes up agaisnt Magda Linette.
2024 WTA Tour – WTA 1000
Italian Open
Foro Italico
Selected Ro64 Matches – 10th May
Ons Jabeur 2/7 | Sofia Kenin 26/10
Ons Jabeur must take some heart from her quarter-final run in Madrid. The beloved Tunisian has endured a wretched time with injury, suffering a five-match losing streak earlier this season. She has emotionally broken down on court a few times this year and it almost looked like an early retirement was on the cards.
But that quarter-final run in Madrid has stopped the bleeding- to some extent. She must be wondering how on earth she threw away that quarter-final against Madison Keys. She bagled the American in the first set before racing to a 2-0 lead in the second.
But self-doubts started to creep in as the American went for broke. I hope she doesn’t linger on that capitulation coming into this event. Jabeur has thrived in these slow Rome conditions, reaching the final back in 2022.
Her crafty style of play meshes beautifully with clay and she will be hoping for another positive WTA 1000 outing to give her Roland Garros prospects a boost.
Speaking about stopping the bleeding, former Aussie Open champion Sofia Kenin just breezed past Bronzetti to claim her first tour-level victory since January! She actually lost a staggering nine consecutive tour-level matches coming into this event (that will do wonders for your confidence).
Kenin obviously rose to prominence with that stunning Aussie Open victory back in 2020. She then finished runner-up at Roland Garros in her very next Slam (her versatile, unpredictable game working wonders on the clay).
But her form dipped drastically before injury forced her to miss much of the 2022 season. She showed some real improvement after coming back from injury last year, reaching a WTA 500 final before reaching the semi-finals in Guadalajara.
I didn’t expect her to struggle this year after those encouraging results. As I noted earlier, her natural variety makes her a great fit for clay. But I think these slow conditions may give her too much time to make her choices and it could lead to indecision.
Verdict: Jabeur to win in three sets 3/1
Kenin actually holds a really positive 5-2 head-to-head advantage over Jabeur. But they haven’t met since back in 2021 (just before Jabeur’s mainstream explosion). This is an interestingly poised match. Jabeur obviously has the momentum following that Madrid run.
But her knee is unreliable and she could easily implode at any point (like she did in the latter portions of that Keys match). Still, Kenin just isn’t playing well enough to take down the Tunisian on this surface.
Victoria Azarenka 46/100 | Magda Linette 33/20
Former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka has been a bit scattershot in the twilight of her magnificent career, often going on humdrum runs before pulling rabbits out of hats in big events (as evidenced by her semi-final run at last year’s Aussie Open).
This year she has been commendably consistent, compiling a 17-8 record despite not reaching a final. She reached the semi-finals in Brisbane but her best result of the year was obviously her remarkable semi-final run in Miami.
She followed up that startling WTA 1000 performance with a solid run at the Charleston Open, pushing Jessica Pegula to the brink in their epic quarter-final clash. She was upset by Sorribes Torbo in Madrid but that will have given her a decent window to recuperate (I think Rybakina is right about how taxing the women’s schedule is).
Azarenka is a three-time WTA 1000 runner-up in clay-court events (including a runner-up finish here back in 2013). The problem is this: that was her last clay-court final. Azarenka’s flatter hitting just works better on faster surfaces. That being said, she has reached the quarter-final stage or better of this event on six occasions.
Magda Linette looked imperious in her opening match, easily seeing off Zhu in straight sets. That result took her 2024 clay-court record to an impressive 6-3. She reached her maiden WTA clay-court final earlier this season, going down to American Sloane Stephens in three sets in Rouen.
This clay-court resurgence has offered Linette some welcome respite after a tough start to the campaign. The two-time WTA Tour winner and seven-time finalist has radically altered her approach over the last few years, shifting from being a purely defensive baseliner into a far more aggressive player.
It paid rich dividends last season, with Linette reaching an unheralded Grand Slam semifinal at the Aussie Open. She cracked the top 20 at her peak last season but opponents seem to have figured her out to some extent. But she does have a really good game for these surfaces.
She hits with decent topspin on her forehand wing and that double-handed backhand is deadly. She also isn’t afraid to throw in some drop-shots to break the monotony.
Verdict: Azarenka to win in straight sets 21/20
Azarenka narrowly leads the head-to-head stakes 3-2. But the Pole actually emerged victorious 2-1 in their 2023 meetings. I think that this version of Azarenka is far superior to the current version of Linette.
These Rome courts are painstaking and don’t really fit into Azarenka’s playing style. But she does possess more power than Linette and can actually penetrate the court. I just think the Belarusian is going to pick up an easy win.
