French Open: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Tamara Zidansek 6/10/21 Tennis Pick and Prediction

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia will face Slovenian Tamara Zidansek in the Semi-Finals of the 2021 French Open. The match is scheduled to be played on Thursday June 10th, 2021 at 9:00am EST.

This is not a Semi-Final that anyone would have expected, as two players outside the top 30 in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Tamara Zidansek square off for a spot in the Final here at Roland Garros. Both women are in their first Grand Slam Semi, who will get the win and advance to the Final?

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is currently ranked #32 in the world and is the #31 seed here at the 2021 French Open. The former prodigy was a former Quarter-Finalist here at Roland Garros ten years ago, and has finally gone one step further by reaching the Semi-Finals. The Russian was outstanding in her come from behind win over Elena Rybakina in the Quarter-Finals, recovering from a set down to win 9-7 in this third. While she will likely be feeling the effects of that long match, players will find an extra gear in such a big match and I don’t expect it to be too much of an issue. Her experience will be very useful here against Tamara Zidansek and she should be considered the slight favorite here.

Tamara Zidansek is currently ranked #85 in the WTA rankings and is unseeded here at Roland Garros. A relative unknown to casual tennis fans before this event, she has set the tournament alight with some fantastic tennis, and an impressive fighting spirit. Like her opponent Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, she had a very tough three set win in the Quarter-Finals, defeating Paula Badosa 8-6 in the decider. That was a huge win for Zidansek, as her Spanish opponent had been having an amazing clay court season and is ranked over 50 spots than she is. She may also be fatigued after spending a lot of time on court, and it will be interesting to see how she holds up.

This is another difficult match to predict, as both players are in fairly similar form. While Tamara Zidansek has shocked the tennis world to reach this stage of the competition, I am giving the edge to her opponent Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova here. The Russian has been deep in the draw at many majors, and her experience will likely be the deciding factor here. I expect three sets in the match, but Pavlyuchenkova will likely be able to play the big points better due to her feeling the effect of nerves less, and I think she will win here, advancing to her first Grand Slam Final.