"Are we back to 2006?" - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has mini-reunion with Caroline Wozniacki & Agnieszka Radwanska at French Open 2023
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova met up with her former rivals on the WTA Tour, Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska, during the 2023 French Open.
Wozniacki and Radwanska have now been long retired from professional tennis, while 31-year-old Pavlyuchenkova has had of the best Grand Slam tournaments in her career at Roland Garros this fortnight.
Pavlyuchenkova has secured passage into the quarterfinals in Paris. She started by defeating Linda Fruhvirtova, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round, and Ludmila Samsonova, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, in the second round.
In the third round, she bested her compatriot Anastasia Potapova, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, and in the fourth round, she dispatched Elise Mertens, 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-3, to reach the last eight.
The Russian will now play in her eighth quarterfinal of a Grand Slam tournament and her third in Paris. She reached this part of the tournament in 2011, when she lost to Vera Zvonareva, 7-6(4), 6-2, 2-6, and in 2021, when she lost in the final to Barbora Krejcikova, 1-6, 6-2, 4-6.
On Monday (June 5), Pavlyuchenkova caught up with Wozniacki and Radwanska, posting a selfie alongside the duo on social media with an interesting caption.
"Are we back to Roland Garros 2006?" Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova wondered.
Pavlyuchenkova has had quite a few interesting duels with the pair in the picture. Against Radwanska, she lost four matches and won four. Against Wozniacki, she won just one match out of eight.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will face Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals of the French Open 2023
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, currently the World No. 333, will play Karolina Muchova, the World No. 43, in the quarterfinals of the 2023 French Open.
This will be the fourth encounter between the Russian and the Czech, with Pavlyuchenkova being victorious in two of those matches.
She defeated Muchova in the semifinals of the 2019 Moscow Open, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-1, and in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Madrid Open, 7-6(4), 7-6(2). Muchova bested her next opponent in the third round of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, 7-5, 6-3.
On her way to the quarterfinals, Muchova defeated Maria Sakkari, 7-6(5), 7-5, Nadia Podoroska, 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-3, 6-2, and Elina Avanesyan, 6-4, 6-3.
A victory against Muchova would pit the Russian against either World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka or Elina Svitolina in the semifinals, while defending champion and World No. 1 Iga Swiatek remains the favorite to reach the final from the top half of the draw.