The Men's Final we all were hoping to see at the French Open will be taking place on Sunday, but before that we get to see the unexpected Women's Final.
This should be a fun Final and much is going to depend on how well the players are able to hold their emotions in check in a big match for both.
Iga Swiatek - 2.5 games v Sofia Kenin: You would have to have some incredible skills to have a good reason for picking Iga Swiatek and Sofia Kenin to compete against one another for the final Grand Slam title of the 2020 season. The former is definitely a player filled with potential, but there has been nothing to suggest she was ready to reach these heights just yet, while the latter is an Australian Open Champion but someone who has yet to prove she is really happy and confident on the clay courts.
None of that will matter on Saturday when these two young players head out onto the main show court in Paris with the chance to win a Grand Slam title at the French Open.
The success earlier this year at the Australian Open should give Sofia Kenin some confidence and also an ability to deal with the obvious nerves that comes when competing for a Major title. She played really well in Melbourne and Kenin has shown she is someone who can dig deep and put aside any setbacks she has within matches to turn things back around in her favour.
That resiliency and ability cannot ever be discounted and Sofia Kenin is not someone who is going to allow herself to crumble away without leaving all she can on the court. It might be funny to read that considering she was beaten 6-0, 6-0 by Victoria Azarenka at the Rome Masters last month in her sole clay court match, but she has come from behind to turn matches around in this tournament and even the fightback that Petra Kvitova showed in each set of the Semi Final was quickly doused away by Kenin.
I have a lot of time and respect for any player who competes like Sofia Kenin does, but I also can't ignore the fact that she is not the best clay courter out there and her run really has come out of left field. It is much more surprising than her Australian Open success and I think Kenin is going to need some help from her younger opponent playing in a maiden Singles Grand Slam Final.
Iga Swiatek has backed up her stunning dismantling of Simona Halep by beating Qualifiers in back to back Rounds to earn her place in the Final and the Polish player has all the tools to be successful on this surface. She has certainly shown more than her higher Ranked opponent and you cannot deny she has been the more impressive winner throughout this tournament than Sofia Kenin has.
Her levels have been higher for much of the last two weeks and Swiatek has needed exactly seven hours to win her previous six matches so there should be absolutely no worries when it comes to fatigue. At the same time Sofia Kenin has needed almost ten hours on the court, although her fitness is not something I am questioning at all.
In this tournament Iga Swiatek has been stronger behind serve and return compared with Kenin, but I do think the American is going to challenge her more than the last two opponents have been able to do. The bigger question for Kenin is whether she can fight off Swiatek when she is serving because the young Polish player has been dominant on the return throughout the tournament and won more than half the return points played and broken at least four times in all six matches.
That is considerable pressure that is expected to pile down on Kenin who has faced more break points than she has created in half of the six matches she has won to reach the Final. Even in the Semi Final Petra Kvitova had to be considered wasteful on the big points, but Iga Swiatek is breaking at a high rate when those chances have come her way.
I think that is going to be the key in this first meeting on the professional Tour- they did play as Juniors at the French Open in 2016 and it was Iga Swiatek who won in straight sets with a break more secured in each one.
Sofia Kenin has clearly not forgotten about that, but I do think she will find it difficult to earn revenge on this surface and I am going to back the younger player to win her first Grand Slam of her career on Saturday. While I fully expect Kenin to give her all until the end, I think Iga Swiatek will also have enough to cover this mark.
MY PICKS: Iga Swiatek - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)
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