It is the penultimate day of action at the Paris 2024 Olympics tennis event on Saturday where it is medal matches all the way on a day where four games will take place on what looks like a decent day of tennis at Roland Garros.
There are two gold medals to be won over the course of this second to last day of tennis in Paris while a couple of bronze medals will also be secured too. That means that three players will be going home empty handed.
Men’s Singles
Ahead of the gold medal match on Sunday, we have the battle for bronze on the tennis court on Saturday afternoon when Lorenzo Musetti looks to take something home for his week when he goes up against a Felix Auger-Aliassime, who has already secured one bronze medal at these games and will be looking for a singles version to go along with his mixed doubles piece of metal. These are two of the best young players in the game so we should be in for a good one here.
One the form of the week there isn’t a lot to split these two men. Both have seen off seasoned campaigners in this competition. Musetti has taken care of the defending champion Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz to make it here while Auger-Aliassime has seen off Daniil Medvedev and Casper Ruud to get this far. I think the Canadian at odds against is the play in this bronze medal match for two reasons. He is probably the player with the most big match experience of the two right now and there is no doubt that Musetti cut the picture of a man who was tiring fast in his semi-final against Novak Djokovic. Auger-Aliassime didn’t do a whole lot wrong in defeat to Carlos Alcaraz, the Spaniard was just inspired and there was no stopping him. I like the level FAA has shown this week and the legs of Musetti have to be feeling the exertions of not just this week but the week he had in Croatia leading up to here and having come here for gold, if the legs don’t cooperate Musetti could really struggle here. I think FAA is a fair punt at 6/5.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for the Olympics! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Women’s Singles
We award the first singles gold of the games in the tennis on Saturday afternoon but surprisingly it won’t be the overwhelming favourite heading into the event in Iga Swiatek who will be getting her crowning moment of glory. Instead, the gold will go to either the promising Chinese youngster Qinwen Zheng or the Croatian star Donna Vekic who is having the month of her life having reached the Wimbledon semi-final just over three weeks ago.
Both these women have played some excellent tennis over the course of this tournament. Zheng disposed of Swiatek in the semi-final after coming out on top in two three-set crackers with Emma Navarro and Angelique Kerber while Vekic opened her half of the draw up when she put out the number two seed Coco Gauff and her quarter final with Marta Kostyuk was arguably the match of the tournament. If both perform how they have been this week then we should be in for quite a final. Their past meetings are 1-1 so there is little between them which makes me think that Vekic could be some value in this final but Zheng has looked very strong so I wouldn’t want to go against her. I’ll watch this gold medal match without a bet.
Doubles
Before the two singles matches get played out we will have the conclusion of the men’s doubles where in a bit of a weird twist we have the gold medal match before the bronze medal one, possibly because a competitor in the latter was involved late into the evening on Friday. The gold medal match sees two pairings of doubles experts battling it out when Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek takes on John Peers and Matthew Ebden. Both these pairs have seen off high profile singles players en route to this final. Ram and Krajicek sent Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz packing while the Australian took care of Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in the semi-final. There isn’t a lot between these two pairs and I’m a little surprised this isn’t a pick ‘em because they have been the dominant pairs in the event and all four players are seasoned doubles players so I don’t expect much in this one. I wouldn’t put anyone off the Aussie pair but this could genuinely go either way so I’ll sit this out.
The bronze medal match is more about the singles players as the American duo of Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul go up against the Czech pairing of Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek with Machac looking for a second medal of these games after he won the mixed doubles gold alongside Katerina Siniakova on Friday evening. Machac is having a good season on the clay but this one might be a step too far against the American side who are likely to be far too strong on serve but that is reflected in the odds so I’ll leave this one alone.
Tips
Back F.Auger-Aliassime to beat L.Musetti for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Boylesports
Back him here:
