The first week of the French Open comes to an end on Saturday when the third round of both the men’s and women’s singles draws come to a conclusion and by the end of the day we will know the 16 players who will fight out the respective titles.
Friday recap
On the courts Friday went largely as planned for the big names. Andy Murray finally had a comfortable day as he beat Ivo Karlovic in straight sets while there were also comfortable victories for Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Richard Gasquet.
The match of the day in the men’s draw came in the Kei Nishikori vs Fernando Verdasco clash as the Spaniard came from two sets down to force a decider but the Japan number one held his nerve to come through in the final set and move into the fourth round.
In the women’s draw Garbine Muguruza and Svetlana Kuznetsova breezed through but Simona Halep and Agnieszka Radwanska were taken they distance. They both made it through but Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova and Sloane Stephens all bombed out at the third round stage.
Saturday – Men’s Matches
We were hoping to see Rafael Nadal back on the courts on Saturday but the big news on Friday was that the Spanish number one was forced to pull out of the tournament with a wrist injury which isn’t ideal. Marcel Granollers will be the beneficiary as he moves into the last 16 courtesy of a walkover.
That leaves Novak Djokovic as the star attraction on Saturday. He takes on the British number two Aljaz Bedene for a place in the last 16 and while I’m sure Bedene will give it his all it would take something quite extraordinary for the world number one to fail to come through there.
Elsewhere on the card there are three very appealing matches as David Goffin, slowly emerging as a dark horse for this title, takes on Nicolas Almagro who has once again shown his comfort for this surface. Ernests Gulbis looks to back up his excellent performance from the previous round when he takes on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and David Ferrer goes up against Feliciano Lopez in an all-Spanish battle.
I’ve a feeling Gulbis might cause Tsonga some problems but I don’t have enough faith in the Latvian to actually win and the games line reflects the length there could be in the match so I’ll leave those matches alone and go with two others here.
Pablo Cuevas has made it into the third round and he comes up against a Tomas Berdych who has looked better than I thought he might this week so far albeit against much weaker opposition than he will face here.
Cuevas has enjoyed the clay this year. He cleaned up in a couple of lower key events in Brazil a month or two back. I say they were low key but he did beat Rafa Nadal in one of those tournaments which highlights both his comfort and his ability on the dirt.
I just wonder how Berdych will be when he comes up against top level opposition. We know he ditched his coach just prior to the tournament after he walked into a double bagel from David Goffin in Rome recently.
Berdych was taken four sets in the previous round which suggests all isn’t well with his game so I’m going to take the much more comfortable Cuevas to cause a bit of a mini upset in this one. I fancy the Uruguayan to come through at odds against.
Dominic Thiem is very much a man on the up and it is hard not to have been impressed with him both in the lead up to this tournament and during it and I’m surprised he only has to give up 5.5 games against the German player Alexander Zverev.
Zverev has been taken to four sets in both of his wins in this tournament so far whereas while Thiem dropped the first set in his first match in a bout of sloppiness he has cruised through without dropping a set since and looks to be getting better and better.
Thiem leads the head to head 2-0 and they have both been in smaller clay court events this year. In fairness to Zverev he has taken both matches to three sets but Thiem has won sets 6-2 and 6-0 in those matches and a similar set here will put him in a position to dominate this handicap. Alternatively a straight sets win should do so I’m siding with the Austrian again here.
Saturday – Women’s Matches
Serena Williams is the big name on show on Saturday but she won’t get much of the crowd support as she goes up against the French number one Kristina Mladenovic on the main court. Mladenovic has the potential to cause Williams problems but you would think the American will just have too much power in the end.
Timea Bacsinszky, Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Madison Keys are other big names on show on Saturday. Ivanovic has the toughest match of those on paper as she goes up against Svitolina of Ukraine which will be a real battle. Bacsinszky also faces French opposition in Pauline Parmentier and Venus faces Alize Cornet, also of France.
The match I like from a betting point of view though is the first game up on court two as Carla Suarez-Navarro hosts Dominika Cibulkova in a potentially powerful battle. The Spanish star is very comfortable on this surface but Cibulkova has so much power that you think she will always be in the match.
The Slovakian actually leads 3-1 on the head to head although those matches have all been on a hard court. I think the clay probably makes CSN favourite here but I still don’t see her coming through without a real battle – you are almost guaranteed that with Cibulkova. This one has three sets written all over it and with that in mind I’ll take over 21.5 games as a couple of close sets would mean we wouldn’t need a third set.
Tips
Back P.Cuevas to beat T.Berdych for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back D.Thiem (-5.5 games) to beat A.Zverev for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
WON – Back C.Suarez-Navarro vs D.Cibulkova – Over 21.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.94 with Unibet
Back it here:
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