Thursday's French Open Betting

Thursday's French Open Betting 

This Thursday sees the fifth day’s action at Roland Garros and BetRepublic.com is previewing some of the biggest second round matches being played. Who will progress to round three and where does the betting value lie? Read on to find out.

Men’s Tournament - Tennis Betting Odds :

I’ll be focusing on four men’s matches featuring four of the top ten seeds in Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Fernando Verdasco and David Ferrer. Can these top seeded players advance to the next stage of the tournament?

Nadal is a 1/200 to win the match against his Argentine opponent, Horacio Zeballos, who can be backed at 25/1 to defeat the second seed. Nadal is my pick to win the tournament outright and after disposing of Gianni Mina 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round I do not feel that he will have any problems against the world number forty-four in round two. It took Zeballos five sets to get past world 190 Martin Fischer, so I cannot see anything but a straight sets win for Nadal. Back this at odds of 1/8.

The second player we are looking at is Serbian Novak Djokovic. The number three seed took four sets to get past world number seventy-three Evgeny Korolev in the first round and now faces world number 246 Kei Nishikori for a place in round three.

The Serbian is a 1/20 favourite to progress, while his Japanese opponent can be backed at 8/1 after beating Santiago Giraldo in round one. Djokovic outranks Nishikori by 243 places and I cannot see him dropping a set in this round, so back a straight sets win at odds of 4/11.

Seventh and ninth seed Verdasco and Ferrer strolled through the first round, dropping just six and five games respectively. In round two they face Frenchman Florent Serra and Belgian Xavier Malisse respectively. As I said in the Day Three preview these two players are my dark horse bets for the tournament and I feel that both players will progress easily through this round.

Verdasco can be backed at 1/10 to win the match compared to 11/2 for Serra. Verdasco defeated Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 to reach this point of the competition while Serra dropped just five sets in eliminating Michael Russell of the USA. These two players have met on five previous occasions, with Verdasco winning the last four matches.

He has won the last three matches in straight sets and has not dropped a set against Serra on clay, including beating him at Roland Garros last year. I feel that the seventh seed and world number nine will win in straight sets again, so back him to do so at 4/7.

Shockingly, despite David Ferrer being seventy-three places higher in the ATP rankings than Xavier Malisse, the Belgian leads the Spaniard 2-1 in their head-to-head encounters. However, Ferrer did win their last meeting and that came in 2005.

Ferrer has improved exponentially since then and is a massive favourite to progress in this match at 1/12 compared to 10/1 for his opponent. Both players won their first round games in straight sets and I see this one being a 3-0 win too. My money is on a Ferrer win in straight sets at 4/7 .

BetRepublic.com Recommends:

Back Rafael Nadal to win 3-0 @ 1/8

Back Novak Djokovic to win 3-0 @ 4/11

Back Fernando Verdasco to win 3-0 @ 4/7

Back David Ferrer to win 3-0 @ 4/7

Women’s Tournament - Tennis Betting Tips:

Some of our picks for the Women’s Tournament in the Outright Preview are in action today and we’re previewing games featuring two of the top four seeds in Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic as well as two players in red hot form in Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova.

Top seed Serena Williams has never really gone that well on the clay courts of Roland Garros and her return of just one victory at this Grand Slam is poor for her standards. She defeated Stefanie Voegele in straight sets in the first round, although she was taken to a tie breaker in the first set, and now faces Julia Goerges of Germany in the second round. Unsurprisingly, the top seed and world number one is a huge odds to win the match at 1/12 versus her opponents 6/1.

Goerges is ranked seventy-seven in the world but she managed to overcome fifty-eighth ranked Melinda Czink in straight sets first time out, but I don’t see her going any further. However, clay is not Serena’s favourite surface and I see the match ending 2-1 to Serena, so back this outcome at odds of 9/2 .

Jelena Jankovic was my pick to win the women’s title and she looked good as she rolled over Alicia Molik 6-0, 6-4 in the first round.

Her opponent in round two is Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, who overcame Pauline Parmentier 6-3, 6-1. These players have met only once before, in Dubai last year, and it was the Estonian who emerged victorious. She is priced at 9/2 to win again, while Jankovic is 1/8 to even up the scorecard. However, I feel that Jankovic is in excellent form and will take an easy over the player ranked 114 places below her in the WTA rankings list. Back a 2-0 win for Jankovic at 2/5.

The two outsiders are also in fine form with Justine Henin having won 6-4, 6-3 and Maria Sharapova having triumphed 6-3, 6-2 in their first round matches. In the second round Henin will face Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Katarina Srebotnik in three sets in the first round, and the Belgian is the massive favourite at 1/25 to make progress towards her fifth French Open title, while her Czech opponent can be backed at 9/1. Henin loves the clay, having won four Roland Garros titles and I see a straight sets win for her here. My money will be going at 1/8 for a 2-0 Henin victory.

Sharapova’s defeat of Ksenia Pervak was a continuation of the form she showed in Strasbourg last weekend and should she continue like this then her second round opponent Kirsten Flipkens will be facing a straight sets loss too. Sharapova is an odds 1/7 to win the match while Flipkens of Belgium is available at 4/1. Unfortunately for the Belgian I can see nothing but a straight sets win here, so back Sharapova at 4/9 to win 2-0.

BetRepublic.com Recommends:

Back Serena Williams to win 2-1 @ 9/2

Back Jelena Jankovic to won 2-0 @ 2/5

Back Justine Henin to win 2-0 @ 1/8

Back Maria Sharapova to win 2-0 @ 4/9