The opening day of the French Open was a truncated affair with the rain spoiling things for much of the duration which means that going into Monday the event is already a little behind schedule which isn’t ideal.
Some big names come out to play on the second day of the tournament but sadly the rain is set to ruin the action once again. Hopefully the forecast proves to be wrong and all the scheduled matches get played.
Sunday recap
With the rain arriving midway through the first day there weren’t many matches that were able to be completed so most of the Sunday schedule will be played out on Monday, weather permitting. Two ladies who were able to get the job done before the rain arrived were Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova but the majority of the big names are yet to get onto the courts.
Monday Men’s Matches
The schedule on Monday is pretty lengthy with all the courts at the Roland Garros complex in use unlike on Sunday when there was a cut down schedule. The likes of Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka are scheduled on the order of play on Monday while Kei Nishikori will finish his first round match.
As I mentioned in Sunday’s preview I’m not keen on taking big handicaps in these first round matches. It is all about getting into the tournament for the big names and quite often they are playing players who have match practice behind them be it from the qualifiers in the case of Murray’s opponent Radek Stepanek or those ranked lowly enough to have to play the week before a Slam.
Given that I will take the chance to sit back a bit and assess the form of the likes of Wawrinka, Murray, Raonic, Isner and the like and instead I’ll focus on the more competitive looking matches which should yield some betting opportunities.
The first of those comes in the rescheduled match between Grigor Dimitrov and Victor Troicki. This was due to be on court on Sunday and I was prepared to leave the match alone but having had another 24hrs to think about things I actually think there is a betting opportunity and it comes in the total games.
You would be stretching it to say either of these players are in top form but both are pretty adept at defending their serve so we should see a couple of close sets here. I don’t see the match ending in straight sets either so the 38.5 games line looks well within reach.
The two men met twice on the hard courts in 2016 and both went the distance with each player winning one of the two matches so on that evidence they are evenly matched and I think that will play out on the court too.
Fernando Verdasco won a low level title in Romania recently and you can never discount the confidence winning any title gives a player. He takes on a Steve Johnson who hasn’t done much all year and who isn’t suited at all to the clay courts.
Verdasco is a clay court specialist in every sense of the word and he has a really good chance to come through here emphatically. He has a serve which is hard to get at on any service and knows the angles to attack his opponent on the dirt. I’m expecting Verdasco to win this in straight sets but even if he doesn’t there is enough of a margin on the -5.5 games handicap for him to lose a tight set and still cover.
Richard Gasquet is sure to have the crowd support behind him when he takes on Thomaz Bellucci but that isn’t always something he has relished and indeed the French folk can be quick to criticise if things aren’t going well for their men.
I still fancy Gasquet to come through this one but he could do without any more pressure on his back than is there already and the Brazilian is a good enough player to be competitive in all of the sets. He recently smashed Novak Djokovic 6-0 in a set in Rome which shows what he can do when it clicks into gear but he is anything but consistent so I see Gasquet winning but not before Bellucci has won a set.
They are my three for the men’s event to go with Jeremy Chardy who we backed on Sunday but who couldn’t get on the court and will therefore play on Monday.
Monday Women’s Matches
Some more of the star names take to the court in the women’s draw on Monday too. Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza are two such ladies while the number two seed Agnieszka Radwanska is also in action along with Roberta Vinci and Ana Ivanovic.
As with the men I’m largely taking a watching brief with the big names in the women’s draw and there was evidence of why on Sunday when Petra Kvitova came through against an expected comfortable opponent but she still needed three sets.
Although I’m going in with an element of caution on the women’s draw at the minute there is one bet I can’t ignore for Monday and that is on last week’s winner in Strasbourg, Carolina Garcia. Garcia won’t lack for support here in Paris but I’m not sure she’ll need it. She is in fine form at the minute having not just won in Strasbourg but also having run Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dominika Cibulkova close in Rome and Madrid recently.
Garcia takes on Lesia Tsurenko in the first round on Monday with Tsurenko actually only one place below Garcia in the world rankings going into the match but recent form isn’t on her side. She has only beaten two opponents in the top 60 in the world rankings all year and those wins both came in the same event in Indian Wells.
Generally at the top level Tsurenko is found wanting and while Garcia’s ranking isn’t at that level we know she has the potential to get there, she has been as high as 25th in the world and recent signs are she’s on the up again. If she is I expect her to cruise through this opening round match.
Tips
WON – Back G.Dimitrov vs V.Troicki – Over 38.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back it here:
Back T.Bellucci vs R.Gasquet – Over 3.5 sets for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Paddy Power
WON – Back C.Garcia (-4.5 games) to beat L.Tsurenko for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Paddy Power
Back them here:
WON – Back F.Verdasco (-5.5 games) to beat S.Johnson for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfred
Back it here:
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