Analysis for Kleybanova-Hercog (WTA French Open)

Head-to-head record 1:0

Slovenian qualifier Polona Hercog will face Russian youngster Alisa Kleybanova in the first round. 18-years old Slovenian girl is considered to be a big tennis talent. She is still relatively low positioned at WTA ranking but her recent results show her ability and ambitions. Her 2008 season was impressive (37 wins-16 losses) and even when she hasn’t played many famous opponents yet, her confidence must be sky high. Her 2009 record is even more stellar with 27 wins and just 5 losses. There is a bright future ahead of this tennis player. We watched here several times and were impressed by her happy-go-luckiness and confidence. As we already said, she is definitely able to crack into top 100 soon. Of course, she still needs to improve the power but this is something that should automatically come while she is getting older. Hercog has not won a title on the WTA Tour yet but she has been able to earn four singles titles and four doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She came through the qualifiers here pretty easily and she should be confident for her first grand slam performance. Her opponent will be Russian upcoming star Alisa Kleybanova who already defeated the likes of Ivanovic and Williams this year but she is still inconsistent player and poor losses to huge underdogs often follow her famous wins. Many critics have cited that Kleybanova's style of play is the modern day version of American Lindsay Davenport. She is said to be the most annoying tennis player male or female to watch as she grunts very loud and jerks her head after every shot. She is a very talented player but we will try to back her opponent due to Russian´s inconsistence. Small stake on Slovenian player with the odds above 2.9.