Ex-Slam champion picks Aryna Sabalenka over Iga Swiatek to win French Open title

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Former Grand Slam mixed doubles champion Casey Dellacqua is picking Aryna Sabalenka ahead of Iga Swiatek to win the French Open. Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion, has also had some notable results this clay season and it seems that the Belarusian has never looked better on the slowest tennis surface.

After losing to Swiatek in the Stuttgart final at the start of the clay season, Sabalenka got her revenge by beating the Pole in the Madrid final. “I'm gonna go with Sabalenka because she's got that Madrid title under a belt.

That's a big win. And I think her firepower on the Roland Garros clay courts, particularly, is going to be a real weapon for her," Dellacqua said on The AO Show, via the Australian Open website.

Dellacqua tips Sabalenka to win RG but not counting out Swiatek

Although Dellacqua thinks Sabalenka will win the French Open, the former Slam champion underlined that Swiatek absolutely cannot be underestimated.

“If she's healthy, you kind of can't go against her as the favorite. From what I'm reading and hearing – I'm obviously not on the ground and that there – but it seems that the thigh injury was a little bit precautionary, so I'm not quite sure that maybe we factor that in too much," Dellacqua said.

Simon Rea, a former coach of Nick Kyrgios and Sam Stosur, was also a guest on The AO Show. Rea agreed that Sabalenka could definitely make a major French Open run but he picked Swiatek as the one to win it all. "And on the women's side, I'm gonna come back to the obvious.

I think it's staring us in the face, and rather than look at why not, I think it's an opportunity for Iga to stamp her mark again. And I think she does get it done," Rea said.