The third round of the French Open is due to conclude at Roland Garros in Paris assuming the weather finally plays ball in the Olympic host city and if we get a full day in we should be treated to some wonderful action.
We are at the part of the tournament where the seeded players get to meet each other for the first time and there are seven such matches on the Saturday card so the quality should be very high throughout the day.
Day 6 Recap
Another heavily rain impacted day saw just the one real upset over the course of the day which saw Andrey Rublev dumped out but of the big names who were on show Iga Swiatek continued her title defence in fine fashion while Ons Jabeur, Coco Gauff, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jannik Sinner all came through in straight sets in the day session while Carlos Alcaraz got the better of Seb Korda in a decent match in the night session.
Because of the forecast we didn’t do a Friday preview but the two bets we have had since the last preview both won eventually once the rain allowed them to when Sofia Kenin easily got the better of Caroline Garcia for a nice priced winner and in the end Zhizhen Zhang managed to see off Lorenzo Sonego once the rain had abated so we are back on track as far as the match betting is concerned for this tournament.
Philippe Chatrier Court
Two women’s matches get us underway on the Philippe Chatrier Court on Saturday with two seeded players meeting in the first of them when the former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina takes on Elise Mertens. When they are done two good friends meet as Aryna Sabalenka looks to continue her bid for the calendar slam when she faces Paula Badosa. The day session on Saturday concludes with Alexander Zverev meeting the Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor before the night session clash sees Novak Djokovic continuing his title defence with a clash with Lorenzo Musetti.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
There is an extended schedule on the Suzanne Lenglen Court on Saturday in a bid to ensure the tournament remains on track. Two unseeded players open the show when Varvara Gracheva takes on Irina Begu before two exciting men come back to conclude their third round match when Ben Shelton and Felix Auger-Aliassime resume. They will be followed on court by the number five seed Daniil Medvedev who goes up against Tomas Machac before Madison Keys faces her fellow American player Emma Navarro. We are probably going to be into the night session by the time Casper Ruud and Tomas Martin Etcheverry round off the second court schedule.
Simonne Mathieu Court
The Australian Open finalist Qinwen Zheng will start the action over on the Simonne Mathieu Court on Saturday when she faces Elina Avanesyan before Hubert Hurkacz and Denis Shapovalov are back on the court to conclude the match they started on Friday. The next match onto the court sees the former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu taking on Jasmine Paolini before two men’s matches round off the schedule with Holger Rune facing Jozef Kovalik before Taylor Fritz looks to make the second week at the expense of Thanasi Kokkinakis.
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Best of the Rest
Given that we have had plenty of rain in the opening week of the tournament there are more singles matches on the outside court than we would normally get at this stage. Among the seeded players on those outside courts will be Alex de Minaur, Grigor Dimitrov, Elina Svitolina, Francis Cerundolo and Tommy Paul while two of the brighter young talents in the women’s game will be on show too in Mirra Andreeva and Peyton Stearns.
Men’s Betting
One bet appeals to me in the men’s draw on Saturday and we have to wait until the last match on the main court where we have the rematch of three years ago between Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti. Musetti looked like he was going to cause a major upset when they met here in 2021 when he went two sets up on Djokovic but then fatigue and cramp set in and he barely won another game before retiring in the fifth set.
He was new to the scene then though and he has been about much longer now and has even picked up a win over Djokovic on the clay in Monte Carlo last year. There is no doubt that the Djokovic we are seeing at the minute is a downgrade on the one we’ve seen previously. He has lost to the likes of Alejandro Tabilo and Tomas Machac on the clay in recent times so I certainly think Musetti can lay a challenge down here. I’m still not convinced he will win but a 6.5 game advantage looks quite a hefty one to me.
Women’s Betting
There isn’t a huge amount that jumps out at me in the women’s game on Saturday with the prices just about right in the main but one which does offer a bit of value comes in the form of the home player Varvara Gracheva who feels like a big price to see off Irina Begu at around the 13/8 mark. I’m comfortable with the Romanian being the favourite in the contest but 4/9 vs 13/8 feels a little at the extreme end of the odds to me.
I say that because Gracheva has already enjoyed a major court when beating Maria Sakkari in the first round of this tournament and we know she isn’t going to lack for crowd support, especially with this match first up before the action on Philippe Chatrier begins. Gracheva had a good win over Katie Boulter in a warm up event and looks to be playing well. Begu has gone well throughout this tournament but we shouldn’t forget that she is ranked outside the top 100 in the world, albeit some of that is down to injuries. This feels like a closer match than the odds suggest and so I’ll take the outsider in this one.
Tips
Back L.Musetti (+6.5 games) to beat N.Djokovic for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back V.Gracheva to beat I.Begu for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Betway
