Roland Garros: Ana Bogdan vs Timea Babos preview, head-to-head & prediction | French Open 2020

Match details

Fixture: Ana Bogdan vs Timea Babos

Date: 29 September 2020

Tournament: Roland Garros 2020

Round: First round (Round of 128)

Venue: Paris, France

Category: Grand Slam

Surface: Red clay

Prize money: Approx. €38,000,000

Match timing: 11 am CEST, 2.30 pm IST

Live Telecast: USA - NBC / Tennis Channel | India - Star Sports / Disney+ Hotstar VIP

Also check out: The Complete French Open 2020 Schedule

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Ana Bogdan vs Timea Babos preview

Romania's Ana Bogdan has had her fair share of troubles dealing with a recurrent elbow injury over the last several months. But the former World No. 59 will look to turn over a new leaf by doing well at the French Open.

Bogdan, 27, had her breakthrough season in 2018 and seemed to be on a steady ascent up the world rankings. But it was around that time that the problems with the elbow began to surface, and she has only managed to play sporadically since then.

Bogdan did, however, have a couple of promising results on the WTA tour's return in August this year, reaching the last eight in Prague. She will now be fancying her chances against a relatively easy first-round opponent, Timea Babos.

Timea Babos is yet to win a main draw match in singles this year

Babos, although an evergreen threat on clay, does not inspire much confidence heading into this matchup. She has played in eight singles tournaments this year, but is yet to win a main draw match.

Babos' results following the return of tour have been especially concerning. She suffered tame losses to Madison Keys and Arantxa Rus in the last two tournaments, managing only three games in the two matches combined.

The Hungarian does have an attacking game based around solid groundstrokes, somewhat similar to Bogdan. Both women are also extremely comfortable at the net, and the match will come down to whoever executes their game well on the given day.

Ana Bogdan vs Timea Babos head-to-head

Ana Bogdan's sole win in Paris has come against Marketa Vondrousova, the 2019 finalist

Timea Babos leads the head-to-head against Ana Bogdan with a slender 1-0 margin. The Hungarian beat her opponent in their only previous meeting which came on the hard-courts of Brazil in 2016.

Ana Bogdan vs Timea Babos prediction

This is a fairly well balanced matchup as both women have a similar style of play, with neither having produced their best level in recent months.

It is going to be a battle for the baseline, with plenty of long exchanges. And while one would want to give an edge to Timea Babos simply based on the extra match practice that she's had all year, Ana Bogdan cannot be counted out.

The Romanian looked confident in her match against Kristyna Pliskova in Prague, where she was leading 5-2 before retiring from the match. If fully fit, she should have enough firepower to find a way past Babos in this one.

Prediction: Ana Bogdan to win in three sets.

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