Just weeks following their first meeting on the tour, which took place in Madrid during the warm-up to the second Grand Slam event of the season, Petra Kvitova and Irina-Camelia Begu are set to cross paths once again on the professional circuit, this time with higher stakes to play for as they attempt to secure a spot in the final 16 in Paris. Since this is just their second meeting on the professional tour, with Kvitova leading the Head to Head 1-0.

Following yet another tough match during this year’s draw, Kvitova managed to stumble along into the third round of the French Open. In her latest encounter in Paris, Kvitova rallied from a set down to defeat Silvia Soler-Espinosa in three sets -7(4), 6-4, 6-2. Although it was a sloppy match in many ways, Kvitova hit 46 winners and matched it with 56 unforced errors. I the end, she was able to find her way into the following stage of the tournament.

In a far simpler match later in the day, Irina-Camelia Begu lost a mere two games in her second round match against Ana Konjuh. She struck three aces, broke serve 5 times and hit 21 winners to cruise into the third round of the tournament, where she will now challenge Kvitova for the second time in as many weeks.

This is just the second time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour, with Kvitova leading the head-to-head series 1-0. Kvitova defeated Begu several weeks ago in Madrid en route to her title win several matches later. From there, she went on to beat Serena Williams, so it is clear that Kvitova is capable of playing far better than she had been over the last while. It will be interesting to see how she performs on Saturday en route to the fourth round of the tournament.