The second round of the singles draws at the French Open are scheduled to end on Thursday although with the tournament running slightly behind it remains to be seen if that will be the case or not.
After a truly epic day of tennis on Wednesday, we are set for another cracking day on Thursday, a day where three British players are in singles action along with a host of star names all looking to book spots in the last 32.
Day 4 Recap
There were five setters everywhere you looked on Wednesday with Jeremy Chardy, Grigor Dimitrov, Kei Nishikori and Alexander Zverev all coming through deciding sets in amazing contests. It wasn’t quite as tight in the women’s draw with Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova and Madison Keys all making it through easily enough. There were easy men’s wins for David Goffin and Novak Djokovic.
We had one winner from the three bets that was settled with one of the losers coming in the Santiago Giraldo match when we needed just a service hold to bring home the bacon only to see him broken and lose by seven games rather than six. Cameron Norrie has given us hope of another winner when he resumes with Lucas Pouille though.
Philippe Chatrier Court
It is Marin Cilic who a little surprisingly gets the chance to open up play on the main court on Thursday. He takes on the highly rated player Hubert Hurkacz of Poland before Lucas Pouille and Cameron Norrie return to conclude their match from Wednesday. Simona Halep will follow them. She plays American talent Taylor Townsend before Julien Benneteau plays what could be his final French Open match when he takes on Juan Martin del Potro. Daylight, timings and prayers falling into place will see Serena Williams round off the day when she takes on Ashleigh Barty in a humdinger.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
Garbine Muguruza is first up on the second show court on Wednesday when she plays local player Fiona Ferro before another French player takes to the court when Richard Gasquet faces Malek Jaziri of Tunisia. If you have a ticket for this court on Thursday you have hit the jackpot as Rafael Nadal is up third on the court to take on Guido Pella before Caroline Garcia is in action against Shuai Peng, the dangerous player from China.
Court 1
The exciting Denis Shapovalov will get us going on Court 1 on Thursday. He plays the German player Maximilian Marterer. There is a juicy looking clash second on this court when Maria Sharapova faces Donna Vekic before the all-French battle between Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Jeremy Chardy. Julia Goerges will get the honour of rounding things off on this court when she plays Alison van Uytvanck of Belgium.
Court 18
This wonderful addition to the Roland Garros complex should see more tasty action on Thursday. It is the entertaining Fabio Fognini who gets things started. He plays Elias Ymer before Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas conclude their match from Wednesday. Two big serving Czechs meet after them when Lucie Safarova takes on Karolina Pliskova before another big server steps up as John Isner takes on Horacio Zeballos. Shuai Zhang faces Irina-Camelia Begu in the last match.
Best of the Rest
It is British day on Court 3 with Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund competing on that court. Borna Coric is also on there while Coco Vandeweghe, Diego Schwartzman, Kevin Anderson and Angelique Kerber are among the star names who are dotted around the Roland Garros grounds for those who have ground passes for the day to view.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Men’s Betting
I’m going with two bets in the men’s draw on Thursday. The first is in the all-French clash between Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Jeremy Chardy. I know Chardy went five sets in the first round but it was spread over two days so his fitness should be ok. I actually thought he played really well against Tomas Berdych and a repeat of that performance should be too good for Herbert, who hasn’t really clicked on clay this season. Chardy was hitting the ball very well against Berdych and if his fitness is fine I expect him to ease through a little easier on Thursday.
One man who might not ease through quickly is John Isner. He takes on Horacio Zeballos of Argentina who is certainly no stranger to being out on court for ages. He famously went 22-20 with Ivo Karlovic in Australia last year. Twice in three meetings these two have been three sets and while that form is from a while back it shows there is every chance we are going to see a mini-marathon in this one. Both men can guts it out so I like over 38.5 games in this match which has an outside chance of landing in three sets but should definitely land in four.
Women’s Betting
Just the one for me in the women’s draw on Thursday which comes in the match between Maria Sharapova and Donna Vekic where I think Sharapova could be in for another lengthy tussle. She was made to work and scrap in the first round although that was largely of her own doing. I think Vekic will make her work hard here. Vekic loves playing the big players. We’ve seen that in recent slams and she loves the bigger courts too. When push comes to shove Sharapova might be too good for her but the movement of the Croatian will make her dangerous enough to see us beyond 20.5 games before this one ends.
Tips
Back J.Chardy (-1.5 sets) to beat P-H.Herbert for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
Back him here:
WON – Back J.Isner vs H.Zeballos – Over 38.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
Back it here:
WON – Back M.Sharapova vs D.Vekic – Over 20.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with LeoVegas
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018
