The second week of the last Grand Slam of the year begins on Sunday when half of the last 16 matches at the French Open are played out on the show courts of Roland Garros on a big day in Paris.
The majority of the big names have continued to make it through but we are probably going to have to wait until later in the tournament before we get to see them face each other. Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Simona Halep will all be looking to break through on Sunday.
Day 7 Recap
It wasn’t a great day for the seeded players on Saturday it has to be said with the likes of Matteo Berrettini, Aryna Sabalenka and Garbine Muguruza all falling by the wayside but there were comfortable victories for Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Sofia Kenin and Petra Kvitova among others. Petra Martic was another of the seeded players to get shot out of the competition before the second week of action.
It was an up and down betting day for us. We picked the wrong Spaniard in the early match on the Lenglen court as Pablo Carreno Busta beat Roberto Bautista Agut but the majority of the losses were pulled back when despite going into the final set a game down on the totals, Fiona Ferro won the decider against Patricia Tig 6-0 to not just win the match but cover the handicap we needed as well which was a nice bonus.
Philippe Chatrier Court
There are a lot of one-sided looking matches throughout the day on Sunday and one of those gets the action underway on the main court when the 2018 champion Simona Halep takes on Iga Swiatek for a place in the quarter final. When they are done Rafael Nadal will look to make it back to the last eight when he meets Sebastian Korda before the two number three seeds close out the show. Elina Svitolina is first up when she takes on the home ace Caroline Garcia in the match of the day in the women’s draw while Dominic Thiem will look to end the Hugo Gaston fairytale in the last action on Sunday.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
We have three singles matches on the second court on Sunday and two of the better looking ones are among them. Before we get to those though we have a women’s match to open up the show when Kiki Bertens takes on Martina Trevisan, who will be looking for another decent scalp. Alexander Zverev then takes to the court to attempt to make it to a second Grand Slam quarter final in the space of a month. He takes on the highly-rated youngster Jannik Sinner before the singles action concludes with Diego Schwartzman looking to continue his strong progress when he meets Lorenzo Sonego.
Simonne Mathieu Court
There is only the one singles match on the third court mixed in with some good doubles action which has some French players on show as well as the number one seeds in the men’s pairs. That match is a huge opportunity for both Nadia Podoroska and Barbora Krejcikova, two women who arrived in Paris outside of the top 100 in the world rankings. One of them is going to have left the French capital later in the week having played in a maiden Grand Slam quarter final.
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Betting
There’s no point in separating the betting from here on in because bets may be few and far between. There is a couple that I like on Sunday though with the first of them being in the men’s draw where I think Jannik Sinner will stay close to Alexander Zverev if not actually beat him. The Italian star has taken the game to his opponents this week and I don’t see him taking a backwards step against a Zverev whose serving issues still worry me. To be fair to the German we’ve seen him battle through the last two Grand Slams without ever looking flashy or on top form and he might do that here too. I’m less sure he does so by covering a 3.5 game handicap though so I’m happy to take Sinner with that start.
The big match in the women’s draw on Sunday is the one between Elina Svitolina and Caroline Garcia and it is the home ace I like here. Garcia leads the head to head between the two 3-1 which is very much a positive and she hits a harder ball which has been significant right throughout the tournament to date. We are getting towards the stage where I worry about Svitolina as a favourite in a Grand Slam and usually even if she comes through these sorts of matches she doesn’t do it with much control over the situation. Garcia doesn’t have a lot to lose and while the crowd won’t be very big on Chatrier they will be right behind here. I’ll side with Garcia with the 3.5 game start she is in receipt of.
Tips
WON – Back J.Sinner (+3.5 games) to beat A.Zverev for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Back C.Garcia (+3.5 games) to beat E.Svitolina for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
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