The first round of the French Open continues on the second day of the tournament at Roland Garros on Monday as more players begin their bid to land the biggest clay court title of the campaign out in Paris.
We saw some brilliant tennis on the opening day of the tournament on Sunday and when you see the cast list on show on Monday it would be reckless to expect any different, although how much play we’ll get on the outside courts remains to be seen with the weather forecast a little iffy.
Day 1 Recap
It was not a day to be a top seed in the women’s draw with two of the top 10 dumped out on the opening day of the tournament, annoyingly they included our outright bet Ons Jabeur who went down in three sets. Garbine Muguruza suffered the same fate but there were no such issues for the likes of Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Maria Sakkari who all breezed through in straight sets. There were defeats for Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Jenson Brooksby from the men’s seeds though.
Apart from the demise of Jabeur it was a perfect start to the tournament for us from a betting point of view with Albert Ramos-Vinolas delivering the goods on the men’s bet that we took when he saw off Thanasi Kokkinakis in four sets and then in the women’s draw Kaia Kanepi came from a set down to take care of Garbine Muguruza to give us two decent odds against winners and set us up nicely for the remainder of the tournament.
Philippe Chatrier Court
The 2020 champion and overwhelming favourite to win the title this year too, Iga Swiatek, gets a very strong card underway on the Philippe Chatrier Court on Monday. The world number one has a meeting with the qualifier Lesia Tsurenko before the defending champion Barbora Krejcikova gets her title defence up and running. She meets the home player Diane Parry. The day session on Chatrier ends with the Roland Garros legend Rafael Nadal on show. He has a first round meeting with Jordan Thompson. It is Novak Djokovic who will begin his title defence in the night session when he goes up against Yoshihito Nishioka.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
There is an absolute cracker to get the action started on the Suzanne Lenglen Court as the former semi-finalist Amanda Anisimova takes on Naomi Osaka. When they are done the 2015 champion returns to the scene of his greatest moment when Stan Wawrinka takes Corentin Moutet. Anett Kontaveit is next to step onto the court to begin her campaign. She meets Ajla Tomljanovic before the French veteran Richard Gasquet meets the South African ace Lloyd Harris in what should be a good match.
Simonne Mathieu Court
It is British day over on the Simonne Mathieu Court on Monday but before the Brits take to the court we have a women’s match as Oceane Dodin takes on the German player Andrea Petkovic. When they are done the British number one Cameron Norrie will be on court. He meets the home wildcard Manuel Guinard. The US Open champion Emma Raducanu then steps onto the court for the third match of the day. The teenager meets Linda Noskova who won the girls title here last year. The final match on this court sees another home player Benoit Paire going up against Ilya Ivashka.
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Best of the Rest
There is action all across the grounds at Roland Garros on Monday which means that there are plenty of seeded players to watch either for those with a grounds pass or us watching on via the streams for each court. Victoria Azarenka, Dan Evans, Marin Cilic, Madison Keys, Taylor Fritz, Angelique Kerber, Sebastian Korda, Petra Kvitova, Nicoloz Basilashvili, Tommy Paul, Reilly Opelka and Elena Rybakina are just some of the seeded players that we get to see away from the main courts.
Men’s Betting
I’m not one who is averse to opposing Brits and I’m happy to do that on Monday when Dan Evans takes on Francisco Cerundolo. Evans has been here four times previously and he has never won a match in this tournament and I’m not convinced he will win one here. I think it is fair to point out that Evans is improving on the dirt but it is still his least effective surface and now he takes on an Argentine who is naturally suited to clay and who went well in the South American leg of the campaign.
It isn’t just the clay that Cerundolo has shown his strengths this season, he also made the last four of the Miami Open a couple of months ago. I think it is fair to say that his form since that run hasn’t been to the level he would have wanted but I can’t get over the fact that he will be natural suited to this surface and Evans isn’t. Evans will undoubtedly give this his all and from a ranking point of view he can play with freedom as he isn’t defending anything but I just feel the comfort of the Argentine on the surface will be the difference here.
Women’s Betting
When the seeds for this tournament was announced and Petra Kvitova wasn’t one of them I thought she might be a player to oppose because she has lost in the first round of all three clay court tournaments this season and now that she is a seed I definitely think she is worth opposing when she takes on Anna Bondar, the Hungarian player who has played predominantly on clay in her career and is pretty effective at it.
We should point out that we are taking a leap of faith on the fitness of Bondar after she pulled out of the semi-final in Rabat last week but if she is fit I think she is capable of getting the better of Kvitova, who on her day is still class but who certainly isn’t improving at this stage of her career. Kvitova doesn’t arrive here in great form and I just wonder if she is waiting for the grass where she has a much better record. I’ll take the Hungarian rising player to get the better of her here.
Tips
Back F.Cerundolo to beat D.Evans for a 3/10 stake at 2.15 with Betway
Back A.Bondar to beat P.Kvitova for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with BetVictor
Back her here:
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