Roland Garros: women's semi-final betting previews, tips & TV details

Day 13
ITV4 & Eurosport, from 10am Friday

Konta v Vondrousova

No British woman has reached the final of a Grand Slam since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977, but Johanna Konta can end the 42-year wait by defeating 19-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrousova in the French Open semi-finals.

Konta is the narrow favourite and probably deserves to be a little shorter even though she faces arguably her toughest match of the fortnight.

The 28-year-old Briton has dropped just one set in the tournament but knows she will have to be at her best against Vondrousova, who defeated her 7-6 6-4 at Indian Wells in March 2018.

Konta levelled their head-to-head series at 1-1 with a 6-3 3-6 6-1 victory in Rome last month and that match, their only clay court tussle, should be given more relevance when weighing up the contest.

Vondrousova has had an excellent year and looks like being a star of the future.

However, she has been assisted by a favourable draw, not having to face any player ranked inside the top ten.

The highest-ranked opponent she has defeated was 12th seed Anastasia Sevastova, who she beat 6-2 6-0 in the fourth round.

But that scoreline may have been heavily influenced by tiredness on the part of Sevastova, who had to dig deep to defeat Elise Mertens 6-7 6-4 11-9 in the previous round.

Konta should be fresh – she breezed to a 6-1 6-4 quarter-final victory over Sloane Stephens on Tuesday – and has the benefit of experience, having reached semi-finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2016 and 2017.

It was losing experience on both occasions, but Konta will be desperate to make amends and may just have too much knowhow for her talented opponent.

Dan Childs's recommendation
J Konta
1pt 4-5 Betway, Hills

Barty v Anisimova

Amanda Anisimova played superb tennis to defeat defending women’s champion Simona Halep in the quarter-finals but the brilliant 17-year-old American may have met her match in Australian ace Ashleigh Barty.

Anisimova is just beginning to make her mark in the sport but Barty has been an emerging force in tennis for a while now and, while inexperience didn’t seem to hamper the teenager against Halep, it could make a difference with a place in the French Open final on the line.

Bookmakers have made Barty favourite for the title and the 23-year-old Aussie, a finalist in Sydney and champion in Miami, has done little wrong in the first five rounds at Roland Garros and was professional in taking out dangerous Madison Keys in Thursday’s quarter-final.

She has a level of variety in her game that has outfoxed top players over the last couple of years and Anisimova, for all her brilliance, will have to overcome that challenge if she is to advance to only her second career final.

Barty is the world number eight and should edge this contest but the American teenager has not dropped a set in the tournament so the value bet looks to be in backing a close match.

Joe Champion's recommendation
A Barty to win 2-1
1pt 3-1 bet365

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