The second round of the French Open gets underway on Wednesday when half of the remaining singles draws plays down to the third round of the clay court Grand Slam with everyone able to relax now they are through the opening game.
There is a decent split in terms of when the big names come along over the two days of the second round and on Wednesday we have both of the defending champions taking to the court along with a number of potential winners.
Philippe Chatrier Court
We have another decent schedule on the main court on Wednesday and it begins with the 2024 finalist Jasmine Paolini. The Rome champion gets the order of play up and running with a clash against Ajla Tomljanovic. When they are done it will be the turn of the 2024 winner on the men’s side to attempt to make it through to the third round when Carlos Alcaraz meets Fabian Marozsan. The other person to win a singles title here last year closes off the day session when Iga Swiatek looks to prove she is going better than her recent form suggests when she meets the former US Open winner Emma Raducanu. As always we have one match in the night session which sees the exciting Holger Rune taking to the court to face off against Emilio Nava.
Suzanne Lenglen Court
The schedule over on the second court gets underway with the Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng when she meets the Colombian player Emiliana Arango. When they are done Casper Ruud will look to continue his quest to reach another French Open final when he meets Nuno Borges who came through a titanic tussle in the opening round. We stick with the men for the penultimate match on the Lenglen card as the French hope Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard takes on the Bosnian player Damir Dzumhur before the action on the second court closes out with the world number one Aryna Sabalenka going up against Jil Teichmann.
Simonne Mathieu Court
Ticket holders over on the Simonne Mathieu court have already seen some brilliant tennis this week and there is nothing to suggest they won’t see more of the same on Wednesday as it gets underway with the much improved Lorenzo Musetti taking on Daniel Galan before Elina Svitolina will look to move closer to the second week of a Grand Slam once again. Anna Bondar is her opponent. Stefanos Tsitsipas is another player who has been to the final of this tournament in the past and he’ll be aiming for a place in the third round when he takes on Matteo Gigante before the former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina closes the schedule when she faces Iva Jovic.
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Best of the Rest
We are still at the stage where there is plenty of decent action on the outside courts at Roland Garros so if you have access to the streams of all the courts you shouldn’t be disappointed. Amanda Anisimova, Tommy Paul and Diana Shnaider are the main attractions on a decent Court 14 schedule while over on Court 7, Karen Khachanov, Jelena Ostapenko and Frances Tiafoe will all be on show. Elsewhere, the likes of Alexei Popyrin, Donna Vekic, Seb Korda, Liudmila Samsonova and Clara Tauson will all be in second round action.
Men’s Betting
I’m still not convinced by the credentials of Seb Korda at the minute. I took him on in the opening round but came up dry because Luciano Darderi seemed hampered by an ankle injury from an early stage and never really got into the match. I think Jenson Brooksby will cause Korda a lot more problems here. Neither player has gone that well on the European clay courts this year which paints a bit of an indifferent form guide but Brooksby won the title in Houston.
Admittedly that is a different feel to this tournament but winning on clay can’t be a bad thing and he took care of the likes of Alejandro Tabilo, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul on his way to winning that tournament which bodes well. Korda does have the power to take the racquet away from anyone but when he is going well, Brooksby is one of the best defenders on the court and at the very least I expect the Houston winner to push his American counterpart and successfully ride the 5.5 game start he is being given.
Women’s Betting
I’m taking on an American in the women’s draw on Wednesday as well. Danielle Collins can be a feisty competitor but she looked well out of sorts in a first round clash against Jodie Burrage that she would have been expected to dominate. The Briton served for the first set in that match and was even allowed to hang around and challenge for the second set and a repeat of that performance would being Olga Danilovic right into the game.
Danilovic was almost seeded for the tournament this year courtesy of a win in Antalya before reaching the final in Rouen where only Elina Svitolina was able to get the better of her. She absolutely battered Leylah Fernandez in the opening round and looks to be in good form and full of confidence, in stark contrast to Collins, who is probably more effective on a hard court. That is how it proved here last year when Danilovic won in three sets when the two met and in a potentially similarly competitive clash the value is with the Serbian here.
Tips
Back J.Brooksby (+5.5 games) to beat S.Korda for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Unibet
Back O.Danilovic to beat D.Collins for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Bet365
