The first round of the French Open concludes over the course of the third day of action at Roland Garros in Paris on Tuesday as the final Grand Slam of the year continues to pick up speed despite the awkward conditions.
We’ve seen the majority of the big names show their hand already over the course of the opening two days of the tournament and on Tuesday it is the turn of the likes of Novak Djokovic and Karolina Pliskova to make their bows in the event.
Day 2 Recap
It was an entertaining and in places dramatic day on Monday, a day where we saw the likes of Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and the US Open champion Dominic Thiem cruise into the second round without dropping a set. We got some big upsets on the day though with Daniil Medvedev, Gael Monfils, Madison Keys and Angelique Kerber all dumped out. Garbine Muguruza came through a deciding set while in the men’s draw there was the second longest match in the history of the tournament when Lorenzo Gustino beat Corentin Moutet 18-16 in the final set after 6hr5min.
It was a profitable day for us on Monday but not as much of one as we would have liked. Profit was secured in our first bet when Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets but unfortunately Hubert Hurkacz couldn’t convert match points and lost 11-9 in the final set to Tennys Sandgren which was annoying to say the least. Still it is something to build on at least.
Philippe Chatrier Court
The women’s number two seed Karolina Pliskova is tasked with the honour of getting the play up and running on the third day when she takes on the qualifier from Egypt in the form of Mayar Sharif. The women keep on coming too when the home star Kiki Mladenovic meets Laura Siegemund in the second match of the day. It is after this one that the world number one Novak Djokovic who steps onto the court to begin his first Grand Slam match since that default at the US Open. He plays Mikael Ymer before arguably the pick of the matches on the day takes place when Denis Shapovalov meets Gilles Simon.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
The dark horse for many in Matteo Berrettini opens up the show on the second court on Tuesday. He takes on the big serving Canadian player Vasek Pospisil who was in decent form in New York and will be looking to carry that on here. The schedule on this court is pretty good all day actually and the Australian Open champion is next up when Sofia Kenin takes on Liudmila Samsonova for a place in the second round. The Hamburg finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas is then next on show when he meets Jaime Munar before Aryna Sabalenka ends the action on this court when she meets Jessica Pegula.
Simonne Mathieu Court
The US Open semi-finalist Jennifer Brady is first up on the third court when she meets Clara Tauson before two very appealing men’s matches take place. The first of those sees the winner of the Hamburg tournament on Sunday, Andrey Rublev, meeting the big serving American player Sam Querrey. When they are done Roberto Bautista Agut will be on show as he faces the home star Richard Gasquet before the French wildcard Pauline Parmentier gets to finish off the show when she meets Veronika Kudermetova.
Best of the Rest
The doubles action begins on the outside courts so there aren’t quite as many singles matches mixed in but of those singles games which do take place the seeded players on show include Grigor Dimitrov, Elena Rybakina, former finalist Sloane Stephens, Donna Vekic, Ons Jabeur, Dusan Lajovic and Petra Martic on what should be a competitive day of tennis around the grounds over the course of Tuesday.
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Men’s Betting
Pablo Cuevas is very comfortable on clay and I expect him to come past the qualifier Henri Laaksonen with a fair bit to spare over the course of Tuesday. Cuevas had a decent little run in Hamburg last week when he made it to the last 16 and beat Gilles Simon and Taylor Fritz along the line. Laaksonen has already done well to make it this far but he never really faced anything in that qualifying section and he is up in class here. Cuevas has enough power in his shots to get his shots through the court which we’ve seen is a massive advantage. I expect him to cover 4.5 games here.
I’ve been waiting for the match between Grigor Dimitrov and Gregoire Barrere all week because the Bulgarian has a terrible record at Roland Garros for a man who has often come in here as a seed. He has never been to the second week of this event and is no stranger to a first round loss to a player he should be beating. He should beat Barrere, not least because the Frenchman was unable to get back for a prep run on the clay last week, but Barrere won their only previous meeting which was earlier this year indoors in Montpellier. Dimitrov should win this but never seems to do it easy here so I’m happy to snap up the even money on the Frenchman winning a set.
Women’s Betting
There is only the one bet which catches my attention on what is a competitive looking day in the women’s draw on Tuesday and that is the one between Julia Goerges and Alison Riske where I think the German is a little overpriced despite her relative inactivity in recent times. Both these women don’t lack for power but just where they come from should favour Goerges. Americans like Riske tend to prefer hard courts whereas the Germans are quite at home on the clay.
That sort of rings true in their results on the dirt. Neither woman has pulled up any trees on it in recent times but Goerges has operated at a much higher level and against better opposition. Riske tends to be an uneasy favourite, especially in Grand Slams and there’s no doubt in my mind that being the underdog will help Goerges. At the prices I think the German star is the best play of the two in this one.
Tips
WON – Back P.Cuevas (-4.5 games) to beat H.Laaksonen for a 3/10 stake at 1.82 with 888sport
Back G.Barrere (+2.5 sets) to beat G.Dimitrov for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
Back them here:
WON – Back J.Goerges to beat A.Riske for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with BetVictor
Back her here:
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