Analysis for V.Williams-Safarova (WTA French Open)

Head-to-head record 2:0

Venus Williams will play extinguished Czech star Lucie Safarova in the second round at Roland Garros. Safarova was considered to be the big talent of women´s tennis and she had a stellar 2007 season defeating several top players including former World No 1 Justine Henin. She plays left-handed with a two-handed backhand. Her superb timing off the ground allows her to project groundstrokes of effortless power. She is quick to spot opportunities to take the initiative and is able to hit many spectacular winners. Her preferred surface is clay but she has reached the great results on hard courts as well. However, her last two seasons are kind of nightmare for her. She hasn’t collected many successes on WTA circuit and her YTD record of 17-11 doesn’t correspond to the player of her caliber. On the other hand, she has shown some signs of improvement lately taking one set to Venus Williams in Rome and to World No.1 Safina in Madrid. She will play older Williams sister again today. Venus is one of the most powerful baseliners on tour, equipped with an attacking all-court game. Her game is very well adapted to grass where she feels most comfortable, which is reflected in her Grand Slam results as she has five Wimbledon titles. Across her career, she has developed into a skillful volleyer and effectively utilizes her long 'wingspan' and agility around the net. Williams also has great court coverage using her long reach to play balls that most players would not be able to reach and is capable of hitting outright winners from a defensive position. On the other hand, clay is definitely not her favourite surface and her current form is not that stellar. At the 2009 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Venus defeated Safarova, Chakvetadze and Radwanska en route to the semifinals where she would lose to World No. 1 Dinara Safina. Venus then received a first round bye at the Madrid Masters, but fell to Alisa Kleybanova in the second round. Her next tournament is the French Open, where she is seeded third. She defeated fellow American, Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round in 3 sets and didn’t play her best in this match. We think that her odds don’t reflect the current form of both players. Anything around 4 is good enough for us.