The opening day of the French Open is generally beginning to look more and more like a full day of action when previously it started out as a bit of a half day to get things underway. It means we have some great action to look forward to on Sunday.
This tournament has often left the big names for the second and third days of action but that isn’t the case this year as Carlos Alcaraz and the former champion Barbora Krejcikova are among those on the first day schedule.
Philippe Chatrier Court
We have four matches on the Philippe Chatrier Court on Sunday with three of them in the day session before the one night session match. The day session begins with Naomi Osaka going up against Lucia Bronzetti before the Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz gets his campaign up and running when he faces J.J. Wolf. The day session closes with the home star Caroline Garcia meeting Eva Lys. The night session is one to look forward to as two former Grand Slam champions collide when Andy Murray meets Stan Wawrinka in what could well be the final French Open match for the loser.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
There is a decent schedule over on the second court on Sunday with one of the home players Ugo Humbert getting the action underway when he goes up against Lorenzo Sonego in what should be an entertaining match. The former champion Jelena Ostapenko follows them onto the court. She has a meeting with Jacqueline Cristian to navigate. Another French male is on court in the third match of the day as Richard Gasquet takes on Borna Coric before a second former winner rounds off the second court schedule when Barbora Krejcikova takes on Viktoria Golubic.
Simonne Mathieu Court
The men get the action up and running on the Simonne Mathieu court on Sunday as well when the sixth seed Andrey Rublev faces the Japanese player Taro Daniel before two unseeded women meet as Laura Siegemund faces Sofia Kenin. Two more unseeded women keep the action coming after them when the home wildcard Chloe Paquet meets Diana Shnaider. Nicolas Jarry has had a fine clay court season and he’ll look to move into the second round when he closes out the show against the home player Corentin Moutet.
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Best of the Rest
Those who are on site on the outside courts or who are at home watching the streams of them will have some good players to watch over the course of the day. Some of the seeds outside the three big courts include Grigor Dimitrov, Dayana Yastremska, Hubert Hurkacz, Seb Korda and Alejandro Tabilo. Some of the eye catching unseeded players on show include Jack Draper, Donna Vekic, Martina Trevisan, Marie Bouzkova and Jordan Thompson.
Men’s Betting
I’m not going to rush into betting on this tournament as it is a long couple of weeks and there isn’t a huge amount which jumps off the card at me but I can’t be having Stan Wawrinka only giving up 2.5 games in the heavyweight showdown with Andy Murray in the night session. It is fair to say that both of these players are past their best and the quality might be low as a result of that but Wawrinka is 6-1 over the Scot on a clay court and that feels significant.
It didn’t look like Murray was going to play the clay courts at all when he suffered an injury on the American hard courts earlier in the season but with his career ready to close I can’t help but think getting knocked out here and getting on the grass and building up for one last go at Wimbledon wouldn’t be the worst result for the Briton. Wawrinka is nothing like the player who has won here in the past but that win gives him good memories of this court and he can make another here.
Women’s Betting
In the women’s draw on Sunday I like the opening match on the Court 7 schedule where I’m a little surprised that Marie Bouzkova is the odds against price that she is to beat Veronika Kudermetova, a player who is just 7-12 on the year so far. There are no signs that she is coming to the form of the last couple of years which has got her into the seeded positions in this tournament and a Bouzkova with little to lose could be a dangerous challenger.
Bouzkova has already made the final in Bogota this season so she has form on a clay court under her belt and that should give her a little more confidence coming into this match than the player on the other side of the net. Bouzkova certainly isn’t short of power so that is one thing in her favour and while she can be erratic at times, if she can get in front in the rallies then there is no reason why she can’t get Kudermetova under pressure and come through in the end.
Tips
Back S.Wawrinka (-2.5 games) to beat A.Murray for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back M.Bouzkova to beat V.Kudermetova for a 3/10 stake at 2.15 with Coral
