The second round of the French Open gets underway around the grounds at Roland Garros on Wednesday as the clay court major begins to pick up speed as we head towards the second week of the competition.
We saw some really good tennis in the first round and now that everyone has a match under their belt we should see the quality continue to rise, particularly as we have a very good cast list to entertain us on Wednesday.
Day 3 Recap
We saw some great tennis on Tuesday with the highlight the night match which saw Stefanos Tsitsipas come from two sets down to Lorenzo Musetti to win in a deciding set. Elsewhere, Daniil Medvedev, Paula Badosa, Casper Ruud, Aryna Sabelenka and Andrey Rublev all won through but there was a shock in the men’s draw when Denis Shapovalov lost out to Holger Rune. Simona Halep, Danielle Collins, Hubert Hurkacz and Jannik Sinner were among some of the other seeded winners.
It was a good day for us overall from a betting point of view on Tuesday. It didn’t start too well though. We knew as soon as Facundo Bagnis walked out onto court with his calf wrapped up in bandages that he wasn’t going to win a set and that is how it proved, however that was the only blemish on the day after Carolina Garcia breezed past Taylor Townsend before Marco Cecchinato came from two sets down, which he should have won anyway, to beat Pablo Andujar in a decidier. A good day was rounded off when Lorenzo Musetti didn’t just win one set against Stefanos Tsitsipas but took a second too.
Philippe Chatrier Court
Angelique Kerber is a surprise candidate to open up the play on the main court. She will take one of the many French players on show on Wednesday in the form of Elsa Jacquemot. When they are done the two Olympic champions take to the main court to round off the day session. The first of those is Alexander Zverev. He meets Sebastian Baez and they are followed by Belinda Bencic. She has a very tasty looking contest with the former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu. Rafael Nadal is the main attraction in the night session. He meets the home player Corentin Moutet.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
Two women’s matches get the action underway out on the second court on Wednesday and British eyes will be on this part of the grounds first up when the US Open champion Emma Raducanu meets Aliaksandra Sasnovich before the fourth seed Maria Sakkari takes on Karolina Muchova in a real good looking game. The action concludes on this court with a couple of men’s matches, the first of which sees the defending champion Novak Djokovic making a rare appearance on Suzanne Lenglen when he faces Alex Molcan. The last match on this court should be a great one as Sebastian Korda meets Richard Gasquet.
Simonna Mathieu Court
John Isner will grace the third court first up on Wednesday. He has a date with Gregoire Barrere. Another leading American follows that match as Coco Gauff takes on Alison van Uytvanck before two Spaniards take to the court when Albert Ramos-Vinolas faces the new hotshot on the spot Carlos Alcaraz. Two unseeded players meet in the final match on this court when Camila Osorio takes on Diane Parry in what is a huge opportunity for both players.
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Best of the Rest
There are still plenty of singles matches taking place around the grounds on Wednesday which means the streams for us at home and the ground pass ticket will provide access to some real big names. They include Victoria Azarenka, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz, Amanda Anisimova, Sorana Cirstea, Diego Schwartzman, Grigor Dimitrov, Petra Kvitova, Jil Teichmann, Cameron Norrie and US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.
Men’s Betting
Tuesday was a day where I was eager to get stuck in but I’m not as strong on much on Wednesday so I’m just going to go with one bet and that is for Diego Schwartzman to cover a 1.5 set handicap against Jaume Munar in their match. These two men have met on four previous occasions and Schwartzman has won the lot. Three of those matches have been on a clay court and the diminutive Argentine player has won all three without dropping a set, one of those matches was this year so there is a recent element to the record.
Schwartzman surprisingly dropped a set in the opening round but everyone is allowed a slow start to the tournament. I expect him to be a lot better here against an opponent who himself dropped a set in the first round. Munar might be comfortable on the clay but he lacks the firepower to really go after the better players on the surface. Schwartzman isn’t going to blow a player away but his relentless angles and getting balls back ground opponents down. I expect him to win this no worse than 3-1.
Women’s Betting
I’ll also go with one in the women’s draw too where I fancy Emma Raducanu to come unstuck against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, the Belarusian player who won their only previous meeting in Indian Wells last year. I’m not convinced Raducanu is comfortable on this surface even allowing for her run in Stuttgart earlier in the season. She certainly didn’t look comfortable in the first round, although she does deserve credit for battling through against an opponent who played well.
Sasnovich qualified for the events in Rome and Strasbourg and picked up main draw wins in both and she cruised through the first round here so she is building a nice body of wins and picking up confidence along the way. She was also on court for half as long as Raducanu was in the opening round. I wouldn’t normally care much for that given that the Briton is still a teenager but she pulled out of Rome with a back issue so that extra time on court on Monday might be significant. Sasnovich knows she can beat Raducanu and the even money on her repeating that here looks a shade big to me.
Tips
Back D.Schwartzman (-1.5 sets) to beat J.Munar for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfair
Back A.Sasnovich to beat E.Raducanu for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back her here:
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