The first round finally draws to a close at the French Open on Wednesday and the second round gets underway across the many courts at the Roland Garros complex on what should be a busy fourth day of action in the second Grand Slam of the season.
We’ve seen the majority of the leading players in the tournament now although Simona Halep plays her first round match on Wednesday. Novak Djokovic, Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem are among the players we will see for a second time.
Day 3 Recap
The majority of favourites eased into the second round on Tuesday with Marin Cilic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Kyle Edmund, Serena Williams, Caroline Garcia, Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza all winning in straight sets as the lack of upsets keep on coming in this tournament.
It was a winner and two losers for us on the third day of the tournament with both men’s bets losing but the women’s match that we bet on was close for a couple of sets before Julia Goerges outlasted Dominika Cibulkova to give us something to build on.
Philippe Chatrier Court
Simona Halep will get her campaign underway in the opening match on this court on Wednesday when she takes on Alison Riske. Tomas Berdych will look to recover from two sets down to Jeremy Chardy after that and then Kei Nishikori will be out onto court to take on Benoit Paire. Georgina Garcia Perez will attempt to be the first person to beat Caroline Wozniacki in a Grand Slam this year before the action on the main court ends with Lucas Pouille looking to thrill the home crowds when he takes on Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
Elina Svitolina gets the chance to open things up on the second court on Wednesday when she faces the Slovakian player Viktoria Kuzmova before Novak Djokovic goes up against the Next-Gen star Jaume Munar. David Goffin will be hoping for an easier ride than the one he got in the first round when he takes on Corentin Moutet before an all-French clash rounds things off on this court when Alize Cornet faces Pauline Parmentier.
Court 1
It is Petra Kvitova who is up first on this court when he faces Lara Arruabarrena of Spain before the men’s second seed Alexander Zverev will look to improve his modest Grand Slam record when he plays Dusan Lajovic. Martin Klizan then meets Gael Monfils before Daria Kasatkina goes up against the tough as teak Kirsten Flipkens.
Court 18
It is up to Naomi Osaka to get things underway out on Court 18 on Wednesday when he plays Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan. Grigor Dimitrov is a huge name on this court after that. He goes up against Jared Donaldson before Dominic Thiem takes to the court to take on the improving and dangerous Stefanos Tsitsipas. Carla Suarez Navarro is last on court when she faces Maria Sakkari.
Best of the Rest
Although there is largely doubles on the outside courts over the course of the day there are one or two decent names dotted around elsewhere. Roberto Bautista Agut, Barbora Strycova, Anett Kontaveit, Pablo Carreno Busta, Madison Keys, US Open winner Sloane Stephen, Fernando Verdasco and the former semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis are all dotted around the grounds at various points of the day.
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Men’s Betting
I’ll go with three outsiders over the course of the day with the first one being a man who has already brought home the bacon for us in this tournament in Federico Delbonis. He takes on Pablo Carreno Busta who is fast improving in the game but who still doesn’t convince me on clay. He may well win this match but I’m far from convinced he will have it all his own way. If Delbonis wins a set he should have enough about him to stay within 4.5 games and I expect him to do just that.
Second up I think Roberto Bautista Agut is worth taking on when he goes up against Santiago Giraldo. Giraldo was behind to Marcos Baghdatis before the Cyrpiot pulled out in the first round but in qualifying the Columbian had emphatically thrashed Simone Bolelli and we saw how well he played against Nadal over the last couple of days. Bautista Agut hasn’t impressed in this clay court season and was made to go five sets in the opening round. There is enough for me to believe that Giraldo can snatch a set here and if he does he should have no problems covering 6.5 games.
I’ll also take that same handicap about Cameron Norrie who loves being on the big stage and he will certainly be that. He has beaten Roberto Bautista Agut in Spain in Davis Cup and arrives here off the back of a good week last week. Lucas Pouille should beat him but French players rarely do things the easy way in this tournament. I would expect Norrie to snatch a set and that should see him safely inside the handicap here.
Women’s Betting
Just the one bet for me in the women’s draw which comes in the form of Jennifer Brady when she takes on Yulia Putintseva who I think could be overrated off the back of beating Jo Konta. Konta isn’t particularly great on clay anyway but she was terrible in that match. You’d have to say that Brady didn’t beat much in the first round either but she had more winners than unforced errors which I always think is a basic sign of someone who played better than ok and if she can bring that level to the court here it should be enough to see off the lower ranked Kazakh.
Tips
WON – Back F.Delbonis (+4.5 games) to beat P Carreno Busta for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back S.Giraldo (+6.5 games) to beat R.Bautista Agut for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Betfair
WON – Back C.Norrie (+6.5 games) to beat L.Pouille for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfair
Back them here:
Back J.Brady to beat Y.Putintseva for a 4/10 stake at 2.40 with 888sport
Back her here:
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