The second round of the French Open comes to a close on Thursday weather permitting, when those yet to step out at Roland Garros for the second time this week do so as the final Grand Slam of the year continues in Paris.
We saw the likes of Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Simona Halep make it through on Wednesday and on Thursday it will be the turn of the likes of Novak Djokovic, Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova to keep their campaigns running.
Day 4 Recap
There were pretty straightforward wins for Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Simona Halep and Diego Schwartzman on Wednesday but there were shocks elsewhere with Victoria Azarenka dumped out and Serena Williams having to pull out through injury. Stan Wawrinka, Kiki Bertens and Alexander Zverev all had tougher passages through but it was a day where we saw the likes of John Isner, Kei Nishikori, Yulia Putintseva and Coco Gauff exit the competition.
Unfortunately power cuts denied us the chance to write a preview of the action on Wednesday but we do go into Thursday off the back of a winning day on Tuesday when two of our three bets won as Julia Goerges eased past Alison Riske at a nice price while Pablo Cuevas easily covered the handicap we took on him. Sadly Grigor Dimitrov didn’t lose a set which ate up some of the profit but we’re in good shape going into Thursday.
Philippe Chatrier Court
A former winner of this tournament is in action on the main court from the get go on Thursday when Jelena Ostapenko meets the second seed Karolina Pliskova in a match that has the makings of being an absolute crackerjack contest. The Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin then follows them when she takes on Ana Bogdan in another which could be a good game to watch. The men come out to play after that when the number one seed Novak Djokovic takes on Ricardas Berankis before the action is rounded off with one of the matches of the whole day as Pablo Cuevas meets Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
The exciting and entertaining Denis Shapovalov will look to continue his good form from the start of the day on Thursday when he meets Roberto Carballes Baena in what could be a tight contest. Many people’s fancy for the women’s draw is up second on this court when the former winner Garbine Muguruza takes on Kristyna Pliskova. We go back to the men for the third match on this court as the number seven seed Matteo Berrettini looks to continue his progress when he goes up against Lloyd Harris before the action concludes with a women’s clash between Elena Rybakina and Fiona Ferro.
Simonne Mathieu Court
Petra Kvitova is first up on the third of the show courts on Thursday. The twice Wimbledon champion will look to make it through to the third round when she goes up against the Italian player Jasmine Paolini. Grigor Dimitrov will then look to continue his progress when he goes up against Andrej Martin for a place in the third round before Alize Cornet will look to give the home fans watching on at home something to shout about when she meets Shuai Zhang. The final match on this court sees Alejandro Davidovich Fokina meeting the Hamburg champion Andrey Rublev.
Best of the Rest
It is mainly doubles on the outer courts for the remainder of the tournament but there is some singles matches dotted around here and there and the stars on show in those matches include Karen Khachanov, Aryna Sabalenka, Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Carreno Busta, Christian Garin, Sloane Stephens and Petra Martic among others, so there is plenty to watch for us on the many streams available on those courts.
Special Offer
Opt in and place 5 accumulators either in a Boylesports shop or online and get an acca free! Click the image below to bet. ALL CUSTOMERS! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Men’s Betting
I’ll go with three bets in the men’s draw on Thursday with the first of those coming on one of the outside courts when Dusan Lajovic takes on Kevin Anderson in a match I expect the Serbian player to win and win well. Anderson deserves credit for overcoming Laslo Djere in the first round but I expect Lajovic to give him a lot more to think about here. Anderson plods on but he doesn’t look anything like the player he was when he made successive Grand Slam finals a couple of years ago. His movement isn’t so great and his brute power isn’t there. Lajovic loves it on a clay court and I expect him to be more than 3.5 games better than Anderson here.
The other two bets are on over 3.5 sets in matches involving the two Hamburg finalists who must be feeling a bit of fatigue by now not just because of their exploits in Germany but also the fact they both had five-setters on Tuesday. Andrey Rublev takes on an Alejandro Davidovich Fokina who looks to be hitting the ball well enough on the dirt at present to cause the Russians a few problems while we saw in Hamburg how Pablo Cuevas can push Stefanos Tsitsipas. Tsitisipas won the match 2-0 but the sets were 6-4 7-5 and with the extra tiredness in the legs of the Greek, the Uruguayan is likely to keep that a bit closer. You can get 1.85 on each of those matches having over 3.5 sets which look like a good pair of singles to me.
Women’s Betting
Julia Goerges was good to us in the first round and I’m not sure we should be ignoring her in the second round either when she takes on her fellow German player Laura Siegemund for a place in the third round. Both women had good wins in the first round. Goerges beat Alison Riske while Siegemund saw off the home girl Kiki Mladenovic, the latter winning in straight sets and the former needing a third set but in fairness Goerges should have won in straights.
We saw plenty of winners from the racquet of Goerges in that first round and I would expect to see her come on for the run so to speak and I think she is overpriced here at 11/8. Siegemund isn’t the player she was and she’s more than 20 places behind her higher profile countrywoman in the world rankings. That isn’t always significant but I think it will be here and I’m happy to take the more powerful Goerges here.
Tips
Back P.Cuevas vs S.Tsitsipas – Over 3.5 sets for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
WON – Back A.Davidovich Fokina vs A.Rublev – Over 3.5 sets for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
Back them here:
Back D.Lajovic (-3.5 games) to beat K.Anderson for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfred
Back J.Goerges to beat L.Siegemund for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with BetVictor
Back her here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
