Roland Garros Day Eight Picks – Sabalenka, Muchova On Semifinal Collision Course

Aryna Sabalenka vs. Sloane Stephens

The first women’s night match at Roland Garros in 2023 features a battle of two former major winners in Aryna Sabalenka, the most recent major champion from the Australian Open earlier this year, and Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion. It’s, surprisingly, the first time Sabalenka has reached the second week at the French Open and her run won’t stop here. Sabalenka’s UTR is .80 better than Stephens so look for Sabalenka to advance here and again where she is on a collision course with Karolina Muchova, who has the best UTR in her quarter of the draw at 12.79, just better than Elise Mertens and Daria Kasatkina, who are both at 12.54.

Carlos Alcaraz vs. Lorenzo Musetti

Musetti upset Alcaraz to win his first ATP singles title in Hamburg last year also on clay, but that was before Alcaraz had the confidence of a major title in his back pocket. This will be an exciting match, but Alcaraz has just a little bit more confidence and experience on the big stages and will prevail here.

Novak Djokovic vs. Pablo Varillas

Novak Djokovic is a Secretariat to show wager here against the overachieving Peruvian, but, more importantly, the form Djokovic has shown so far at Roland Garros make him, in our opinion, the favorite to win the title.