The courts in the venue of Roland Garros where really packed today, as all the matches from the second round of qualifying where played on Wednesday to emerge the line-up of 3rd and final round, consisted of 16 match-ups between the players who made it through since the start of qualifying week till now.
Camila Osorio sets up an absolute hit clash of the final round against Mirra Andreeva. The top seed of qualies field has needed just 52 minutes to move past Sesil Karatantcheva. Osorio was a banker favorite ahead of the match against the Bulgarian, who comes back to competition after 4 years of break. The Colombian has won 6-0 6-1 and meets the sensational 16 years-old Russian, who impresses the women's tennis fans since the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome. Andreeva was a confident favorite against Emiliana Arango, the Colombian ranked 205th in the WTA list. The youngster gave no chances to her opponent in the opening set, winning it 6-0, despite defending two breakpoints in the opening game. Second set was started better by Arango, who moved up into 2-1 lead with a break advantage, but Andreeva has won all the games till the end, moving through with a score 6-0 6-2.
The third seed Arantxa Rus has comfortably advanced into third round after scoring second straight set win over the world's number 210, Barbora Palicova. The Dutch won 6-3 6-4 and sets up the decisive match against Moyuka Uchijima. The 30th seeded Japanese has also came through without losing a set so far, winning over Despina Papamichail and Ankita Raina.
Second round contained some interesting match-ups, which were expected to be interesting clashes. Taylor Townsend, who played a successful campaign in Italy, performing well in the WTA 1000 in Rome and advancing into WTA 125 final in Florence, defeated Kaja Juvan in three sets. The Slovenian played great in opening set, as she won 6-1, and continued the good performance in second set, while moving into break lead after 5 games. The American regrouped well and managed to fight back from being a set and break down by winning 4 games in a row and forcing the decider. The third set was tight till the score 3-3. Townsend gained the decisive break in 7th game and took care of the advantage till the end, winning 1-6 6-3 6-4 eventually. Townsend will play for the main draw entrance against Maria Timofeeva. The 19 years-old Russian has eliminated Maja Chwalinska, who performed the upset on the qualies 2nd seed Lucia Stefanini in the opening round. The Pole has won dominated Timofeeva in the first set by winning 6-1, but the world's number 208 has raised up her level and won the two following sets, giving away just 3 games to her opponent.
The 19th seed Viktoria Hruncakova will play against Sara Bejlek. Both the Slovakian and young Czech scored straight set wins in second round, just after fighting for their place there in tight three setters in the opening matches. Bejlek defeated the Canadian Carol Zhao 6-4 6-1, while Hruncakova eliminated the French Nina Radovanovic 7-5 7-6(1). Another Czech youngster Brenda Fruhvirtova will play against the local player Alice Robbe for the place in the main draw. The 29th seed defeated Kathinka von Deichmann 7-6(4) 6-1, while Robbe who is ranked 190th in the WTA list, moved into the final qualies round without losing a set against Patricia Hon and Reka Luca Jani.
The bottom half contains some match-ups between seeded players, who successfully survived until the final round. 10th seed Elizabeth Mandlik plays against 22th Laura Pigossi. Nao Hibino seeded with #11 will meet with #21 Ylena In Albon. The Swiss did not need to spend too much time on the court in both qualies rounds so far, as she has comfortably defeated Marcela Zacarias 6-0 6-3 in first match, while her another opponent Francesca Jones has retired just after 5 games of the second round's match. Elina Avanesyan vs Kayla Day is another battle for the main draw spot between the seeds.
Greet Minnen and Dayana Yastremska set up one of the most interesting match-ups of the final round. The 25th seeded Belgian has defeated Elena Gabriela Ruse 6-4 6-1 despite the Romanian was a slight favorite ahead of the second round match between both. The Ukrainian defeated Sachia Vickery in three sets, 6-2 5-7 6-3. The former world's number 21 could seal the advance into final round much earlier, as she was serving for the match while being 5-4 up in second set. The American denied this and forced the decider, which was an intense battle until the score 3-3, when Yastremska has run away with the score again and crossed the finish line this time.
Thursday will be also an eventful day in Paris, as the a few matches from the decisive round are scheduled to be played tomorrow, and apart from that the main draw will be revealed during the live ceremony at 2 PM.
