Maria Camila Osorio Serrano vs Aryna Sabalenka Prediction: Rugged Maria draws a tough match

The tennis scene is heading toward the French Open, a tournament that is played on the clay court. The clay court offers a slower pace than hard and grass court and the bounce can be a bit tricky, so athletes have to employ more power. Despite these challenges, the clay court makes less injury prone owing to the softness it has compared to Hard Court. In this battle on the clay court, Maria Camila Osorio Serrano dukes it out against Aryna Sabalenka. 

Maria comes into the Round of 32 after beating Marta Kostyuk 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the Round of 64. Kostyuk lost focus after the first set win and ended the game with 11 double-faults. Osorio had a strong 85% first serve, 10% better than Kostyuk and she managed to earn 69-57 advantage in terms of service points. This helped her overcome a 38:46 disadvantage on the receiving points sphere. This come-from-behind sums up her gritty nature of play and at age 21, she has established a strong identity. Maria has done well to regularly make it out of the first round which is really hard at this level.

Saba comes into this contest after an unsurprising 6-4, 6-3 win over veteran Sorana Cirstea. After a tough first set, Aryna stamped her will in the second set. Saba managed to land 7 Aces past Sorana. Saba had a 72% first serve and claimed 63% win on first serve compared to 56% on first serve, hitting 53% winners on first serve. Thanks to that, Aryna earned a 39-29 service points end while having a slim 28-25 receiving points advantage. Saba has breezed through initial rounds for many weeks now and she has now set a high standard.

Aryna and Maria have met once which was during Wimbledon and Saba won comfortably in two sets.

Aryna has improved a lot on the clay court and she has become more than just a power player, limiting her double-faults, improving her return game, and being a more all-around player. Maria is great at coming back from deficits but she can’t afford to go down a set here against Saba who takes it to another level once she nabs a set. That is why I back Aryna to win in two sets.