French Open 2019: Women's Final Schedule, Prediction and Prize Money
June 8, 2019
For the third straight year, the women's singles winner at the French Open will be a first-time major champion.
No. 8 Ashleigh Barty and Marketa Vondrousova are both participating in their first Grand Slam singles final Saturday at Roland-Garros.
Barty carries an edge in experience into Saturday's matchup because she has played in five Grand Slam doubles finals and won her first major crown alongside Coco Vandeweghe at the 2018 U.S. Open.
The winner of the women's final will walk away from Court Philippe Chatrier with $2.62 million, while the runner-up earns a payout of $1.34 million, per WTATennis.com.
2019 French Open Women's Singles Final Information
Start Time: 9 a.m. ET
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports app
Prediction
Barty over Vondrousova
Neither player was particularly impressive in Friday's semifinals.
Barty let a 5-0 first-set lead slip away against Amanda Anisimova, and she did not recover until the middle of the second set.
Vondrousova, who is the first teenager to appear in a French Open women's final since 2007, had to rally back in both sets against Johanna Konta to earn her position in the championship match.
Since there is no sample size for either player participating in a singles final, we are going to give a slight edge to Barty because of her previous Grand Slam doubles final experience.
Even though doubles finals have a lesser profile at majors, and Barty is 1-4 in them, she still has a feel for what to expect, which is invaluable when it comes to a stage that will strum up plenty of nerves on both sides of the court.
An argument can be made that Barty has also dealt with tougher competition during her run to the final, as she had to fend off challenges from Americans Madison Keys and Anisimova in the last two rounds.
Vondrousova benefited from a first-round loss by No. 5 seed Angelique Kerber in her part of the bracket to pave a path into the final that consisted of one win over a player seeded in the top 20.
While Barty has faced adversity throughout the tournament in the form of two three-set wins in the last three rounds, Vondrousova has won every set she has played at Roland-Garros.
Barty possesses a 2-0 head-to-head record against Vondrousova, with each of those wins coming on different surfaces.
The Australian won her first meeting with her Czech foe on grass in Birmingham in 2017 and then toppled her again on the hard court in Cincinnati in 2018.
Of course, Vondrousova has improved most aspects of her game since her last meeting with Barty, but she has not been able to earn a singles title to match those improvements.
Vondrousova lost in the finals in Budapest and Istanbul in three sets, and she won three combined games in the third set of those championship matches.
Conversely, Barty has one tournament victory to her name this season from Miami, when she knocked off Karolina Pliskova in straight sets.
Although Barty does not have a massive advantage in singles title experience over Vondrousova, she still has enough that could play in her advantage Saturday morning.
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