The second round of the French Open gets underway across the main courts and around the grounds at Roland Garros on Wednesday as players who made it through earlier in the week look to make it into the third round of the clay court major.
We have another day where the rain threatens to cause major delays to proceedings but on the main courts we have a roof so we know that the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff will get their matches played.
Day 3 Recap
It was another day where the big names all made it through and they all did so without too many concerns. Novak Djokovic was kept on court for more than 2h30 but he won in straight sets, as did Casper Ruud, Alex de Minaur and Holger Rune. In the women’s draw Aryna Sabalenka, Qinwen Zheng and Madison Keys were among the players who came through in straight sets while Elena Rybakina was another who wasn’t really tested.
It was a frustrating day for us betting wise on Tuesday. The frustration came with the first bet when Peyton Stearns won her match but we needed her to cover 3.5 games and she won by three despite missing five match points which would have covered the line we needed covering. That was annoying but most of the losses was clawed back later in the day when Thanasi Kokkinakis got the job done in the end against Alexei Popyrin.
Philippe Chatrier Court
We begin with the women in action on the main court when the leading home player Caroline Garcia goes up against the former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin for a place in the third round. When they are done the Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz is back on court to take on Jesper de Jong. The day session concludes with the second match from the women’s draw which promises to be an absolute cracker between the defending champion Iga Swiatek and the former Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka. There is one match in the night session which sees the Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner taking on the home wildcard Richard Gasquet.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
The former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas opens up a decent schedule on the second court on Wednesday when the Greek takes on Daniel Altmaier for a spot in the third round. When they are done the former Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur meets Camila Osorio before Andrey Rublev looks to make it through to the third round of the men’s draw. Pedro Martinez will be the player looking to stop that from happening. Coco Gauff is the last big name on the Suzanne Lenglen Court on Wednesday. Tamara Zidansek is her opponent.
Simonne Mathieu Court
It remains to be seen how much of the schedule we get through on the Simonne Mathieu Court with the forecast very dodgy but Hubert Hurkacz will be pleased that he has the opening spot when he goes up against Brandon Nakashima. Katerina Siniakova will be next onto the court to meet the home player Chloe Paquet before the form horse Danielle Collins will look to make it through to the third round of her final French Open. Olga Danilovic stands in her way. Two unseeded players round off the show if the weather allows when Corentin Moutet meets Alexander Shevchenko.
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Best of the Rest
We are still early enough in this tournament that there are some big names on the outside courts still. One of those is the Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova while the former champion Jelena Ostapenko is also on the outside courts. Grigor Dimitrov, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, Liudmila Samsonova, Marta Kostyuk, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Leylah Fernandez, Sebastian Baez, Seb Korda and Dayana Yastremska are some of the other seeds that can be watched away from the main court.
Men’s Betting
There isn’t a huge amount of value to be had in the men’s draw on Wednesday but I do like the idea of Zhizhen Zhang to get the better of Lorenzo Sonego. Sonego had a good win over Ugo Humbert in the first round but he isn’t the most consistent performer and while clay is probably his best surface there isn’t a huge amount in his form that suggests that he is going to follow up that win with another positive display in this one.
Zhang arrived in this tournament off the back of a decent run to the quarter finals in Rome where he had Ben Shelton among his victims along the way in that tournament so he brings winning form with him into this match. He also has the only win over Sonego in their previous head to heads although that was in Eastbourne on the grass. Zhang looks in better form of the two to me and so I’m a little surprised that he is even money in this one.
Women’s Betting
There is one that I like on Wednesday in the women’s draw and it comes in the opening match on the main court where I think Sofia Kenin is a big price to get the better of Caroline Garcia. Garcia needed to come from a set down to see off a lowly ranked player in the first round and there isn’t exactly a huge amount of winning momentum behind her coming into this tournament and she has been known to feel the pressure of the home crowd before.
I wouldn’t say Kenin is a free bird in this tournament but I do think she will know that she is capable of going well here while also knowing that the faster courts would be the ones which suit her game the best. Kenin is another who had a decent run in Rome where Ons Jabeur was one her victims. Kenin is one of those players who had the clean hitting power to take the racquet out of the hand of an opponent and if she can get on top of Garcia early she could come through at a decent price.
Tips
Back Z.Zhang to beat L.Sonego for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back S.Kenin to beat C.Garcia for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with William Hill
Back them here:
