French Open Women's Betting: Stosur has the edge over Cibulkova

Will Stosur progress to the next round at Roland Garros?

We've reached the third round in Paris and Abelson Info take a closer look as some big names begin to collide...

The line-up for Friday's schedule isn't quite what many would have expected, with experts and fans alike talking up the potential of an all-Williams third round clash.

However, both Serena and Venus are out of the tournament, and in their place are Garbine Muguruza and Anna Schmiedlova who will take to the court looking to advance.

With the field now opening up, both players will be looking at this as an ideal opportunity to make it through to the latter stages of the tournament, and given the emphatic way in which Muguruza dispatched of Serena, she will hope to use her powerful shots to prevail once more.

Elsewhere, two other starlets are making some early noise and while one was expected to make an impression, the other has come as a real surprise to many.

Eugenie Bouchard arrived in Paris off the back of clinching her first WTA title in Nurnberg last week, and the 20-year-old Canadian has built on those performances and continued her progress.

In contrast, Taylor Townsend has taken to her first Grand Slam tournament like a duck to water, eliminating home favourite Alize Cornet in a real battle last time out and she was praised by her opponent for having real potential.

However, her task of advancing further will get a lot tougher against clay specialist Carla Suarez Navarro, and although the 18-year-old is a significant threat given that there is no pressure on her, the Spaniard will look to make her experience count.

Meanwhile, both Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska will have arguably been the happiest of any of the players to see the younger Williams sibling depart given their wretched head-to-head record against her.

Sharapova has now been promoted to the tournament favourite, and along with her Polish rival, both will be confident of extending their stay in the French capital a little longer.

However, the same can't be said of Dominika Cibulkova and Angelique Kerber who both face difficult tasks if they are to progress to the fourth round.

Cibulkova has found her feet again after a recent struggle with two comfortable victories thus far, but her next opponent, Sam Stosur, has been utterly dominant.

Having brushed aside Monica Puig in the opening round, Stosur came through in straight sets again last time out and looks to be switched on.

That could spell trouble for her Slovakian opponent, and we envisage the Australian building on her impressive head-to-head record, claiming four wins in four matches, all in straight sets, with the last coming as recently as Madrid earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Kerber can also expect a tough time on Friday as we're never really been convinced that she can consistently step up and make the business end of the big tournaments.

Daniela Hantuchova will be looking to end her stay in Paris, and although the veteran hasn't been in the best of form this year, she will likely test her German rival having split their previous four meetings.

Recommended Bets

Back Stosur to beat Cibulkova 2-0 @ 2.1411/10
Back Kerber to beat Hantuchova 2-1 3.412/5