The first Sunday of the French Open used to be a day where a select few courts were in action to open up the tournament but such is the physical magnitude of matches these days there is a full card to open the event with in Paris this year.
We also used to have to wait until the second or third day to see the star names in action but that isn’t the case this year either. The big names line up on the main courts on Sunday so we should be treated to a decent day of tennis.
Philippe Chatrier Court
The action will begin on the main court at Roland Garros with the Madrid champion Ons Jabeur taking to the court. She will go up against Magda Linette before the Canadian ace Felix Auger-Aliassime will open the men’s draw on the main court. He goes up against the Peruvian player Juan Pablo Varillas. When they are done the highest ranked woman player on the main court takes to it when Maria Sakkari meets the home player Clara Burel before the Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz rounds off a decent card on Chatrier. He meets Juan Ignacio Londero.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
It isn’t exactly a shocking card on the second court either with the former US Open champion Sloane Stephens opening up the action on there. She will meet the German qualifier Jule Niemeier before the big serving John Isner looks to make progress into the second round. He has a date with the home player Quentin Halys before the number three seed Alexander Zverev gets his campaign up and running. The Olympic champion will face Sebastian Ofner before the final match on this court sees the home ace Kiki Mladenovic tussling with the US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.
Simonne Mathieu Court
There is a decent looking card over on the Simonne Mathieu Court on Sunday as well and it begins with the former US Open champion and finalist here in Dominic Thiem. He will go in search of a first win since his return from injury when he meets Hugo Dellien before the number 10 seed Garbine Muguruza will look to move into the second round at the expense of the veteran Kaia Kanepi. Fabio Fognini probably should have done better here than he has down the years but he can bid for a place in the second round when he takes on Alexei Popyrin before Coco Gauff rounds off a decent day when she meets the Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino.
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Best of the Rest
All of the courts are going to be available on the streaming service provided for this tournament which means that we can watch all the seeded players dotted around the grounds. They include Grigor Dimitrov, Karen Khachanov, Jil Teichmann, Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, Sorana Cirstea, Diego Schwartzman and Jenson Brooksby among others. If you are a Brit you have to wait until later in the week to see the British players in action.
Men’s Betting
I’m going to begin this tournament slowly and see how conditions are playing and everything else but there is one bet I like the look of in the men’s draw on Sunday. That comes quite late in the afternoon where I like Albert Ramos-Vinolas to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis. It is fair to say the Spaniard hasn’t shown the best form on the clay recently but earlier in the year he reported the wins we would expect on the surface from the veteran.
Kokkinakis has been better than I might have expected on the clay this year but he still doesn’t inspire me and you would imagine this will turn into quite a battle and I would rather be on the Spaniard in that situation than the Australian, whose fitness can still let him down even though he has had a run of matches behind him. Ramos-Vinolas is getting no younger but he’s the man who relishes this surface whereas Kokkinakis endures it. I like the Spaniard at odds against.
Women’s Betting
I’ll side with a veteran in the women’s draw on Sunday as well where I think Kaia Kanepi is decent value to see off the former champion Garbine Muguruza, who just can’t seem to get going at all this season, whether on clay or any other surface. I don’t know what the issue is with the classy Spaniard but her form is nothing like you would expect from a player of her class and with just two wins in five matches in the three clay events she has played, she looks vulnerable.
Kanepi hasn’t been pulling trees up on the clay but she had a few wins in the Paris Challenger event last week including a good one over Donna Vekic who then went away and qualified for this competition so franked the form so to speak. The Estonian arrives here having made the quarter finals of the Australian Open where she went down in an epic three hour contest against Iga Swiatek. If Kanepi has anything close to that form with her here I think she’s great value to cause a major upset on the opening day.
Tips
Back A.Ramos-Vinolas to beat T.Kokkinakis for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Unibet
Back K.Kanepi to beat G.Muguruza for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
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