The first round of the French Open continues on what looks like being another busy day at the Roland Garros complex on Tuesday. Some of Monday’s matches are to be finished while the top half of the draws begin too.
The real star names come out of the shadows on Tuesday as Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Rafael Nadal and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are among those on the cast list for the day.
Monday recap
In terms of our bets Monday could barely have been any better. Three of the four bets advised in our Day 2 preview all won while one of the matches we tipped on Sunday which was held over also won and there was only one loser from what became five bets so we are delighted with that and will aim to build on that.
While it was a good day for our bets it was a tough one for a number of big names. Stan Wawrinka had to come through a five setter against Lukas Rosol while Marin Cilic bit the dust and Andy Murray and John Isner are involved in right tussles.
In the women’s draw we lost the Italian duo Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani but Simona Halep blasted her way through. Garbine Muguruza needed a deciding set but she joined Halep in the second round in the end.
Tuesday Men’s Matches
Nadal and Djokovic are the headline attractions on Tuesday on the men’s side of the draw but as has been the case all week so far they are being asked to cover massive handicaps. I’ve been reluctant to get involved in those up to the present time and we’ve already been given a couple of huge examples why with the struggles Murray and Wawrinka have had. I still expect both big names to win but value lies elsewhere.
In fact it lies in a couple of places for me. First of all while I’m a fan of Kevin Anderson it is hard to be too buoyant about his chances against Stephane Robert even allowing for the fact that he is comfortably the better player.
Anderson is still getting back into the swing of things after injury and if we’re honest even if the big South African was 100% fit and firing clay isn’t really his surface so I make him quite vulnerable here I must say.
Robert isn’t the best player in the world and at his veteran age he isn’t likely to improve but at least he is a little more natural on the dirt than Anderson and he’s fully fit which is a big thing. Robert ran Djokovic quite close in Rome a couple of weeks ago which is a decent form guide and in front of his fellow Frenchmen I think he can go well here.
Another man who is comfortable on clay is Nicolas Almagro and I believe he’s slightly overpriced to see off Philipp Kohlschreiber. The German has been in decent touch in recent times in fairness with a recent win in Munich in a smaller event and a run to the semi-final in Barcelona but he hasn’t beaten anyone you wouldn’t expect him to with perhaps Dominic Thiem an exception.
Almagro can match that form. The Spaniard won in Estoril recently and he made the final in Buenos Aires where David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were among his victims that week before he lost to Thiem in the final.
The real reason why I like Almagro here though is his 4-1 head to head lead over the German on the dirt. Not only has he won four out of five matches but he has won them all in straight sets and given that he’s in decent nick at the minute he’s another man who is overpriced in this first round.
Tuesday Women’s Matches
Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Victoria Azarenka will have all the eyes on them on Tuesday but once again as has been the case all week they are all plenty short enough and as with the men the value lies away from the big games in this first round.
If I’m honest there isn’t a lot I like on the women’s draw on Tuesday so I’m not going to go too mad and risk everything we made on Monday but I will go with one bet in what could turn into a bit of a cracker.
Jo Konta has shown her big game credentials recently with solid runs in the US Open and indeed the Australian Open where she was a semi-finalist but she comes up against a really tough clay court specialist in Julia Goerges here.
Konta’s clay court season hasn’t been the best but she did show signs of life in Rome recently while Goerges made the semi-finals in Nurnberg. The clay surface could well level this one up a little bit and I suspect these two powerful women will take some separating.
The games line for this match is 21.5 so we probably need three sets for it to be covered and I’m not ruling that out but there is a chance of a couple of really close sets and that could just be enough for the overs to land too.
Tips
WON – Back S.Robert to beat K.Anderson for a 3/10 stake at 3.13 with Boylesports
WON – Back N.Almagro to beat P.Kohlscreiber for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Boylesports
Back them here:
Back J.Konta vs J.Goerges – Over 21.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Betfair
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