There’s a lot of clay in my shorts.
Friday at Roland Garros sees the start of round six of the 2015 French Open and for the first time in the tournament the seeded players that have made it through their opening pair of matches are pitted against one another as they look to close on a place in the last 16 where they’ll be battling to make the quarter finals. Narrow margins win and lose matches at this stage of the tournament as the pressure gets ramped up. Who’ll crack and crumble to find themselves exiting the second Grand Slam of the year at the end of week one?
We’re taking a look at some of the big games with our tennis picks with odds courtesy of 10bet.com.
Samantha Stosur v Maria Sharapova: 3.80 – 1.28
Although the odds for this clash of the players sitting 22nd and second in the WTA rankings respectively suggest that this match between the Australian and Russian will be a straightforward win for the French Open champion with Sharapova having won 14 of the 16 matches against Stosur we would have expected her to be a bigger favourite to progress to round four. The Russian has breezed through her first two matches in Paris and will believe that she can beat the 26th seed for the second French Open in a row after winning at Roland Garros in their last match.
Stosur did take the first round when the two met at the last 16 stage last year but lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 as Sharapova made the final and claimed the title. Stosur has not beaten Sharapova since 2012, but with victory in Strasbourg in the build up to this Grand Slam event as well as two confident performances she will believe that her fortunes may be able to change. However, Sharapova reached the semi finals in Madrid before winning in Rome in her warm up campaign for this competition so she’ll believe that she can go 15-2 from 17 clashes between the two players. With both players in fine form we feel that, just like in two of the three meetings on clay between these two, this match will go the distance and, as such, we’re backing +21 games in this Stosur v Sharapova match at odds of 1.86 with 10bet.com.
Gael Monfils v Pablo Cuevas: 1.32 – 3.35
The 13th and 21st seeds at the 2015 French Open clash in round three today as the Frenchman and Uruguayan players meet for the second time in their careers. Their only previous clash saw Monfils triumph in straight sets at the 2008 US Open and now with his home fans cheering him on he’ll believe that he can make it 2-0 against the South American.
10bet.com certainly believe in the home favourite too and with final four appearances at the Monte Carlo Masters and in Bucharest on clay before his Roland Garros campaign Monfils will believe that it will be him that progresses today. Cuevas is no novice on this surface either as he defeated world number 11 Grigor Dimitrov in the semi finals in Istanbul before being edged out of the final by Roger Federer. However, with some fine form under his belt and a cheering home support behind him we cannot see Monfils losing this match and we’re backing a comfortable win for the Paris born 28 year old. Back Monfils to win at least five more games than Cuevas (Monfils -4.5) at 1.76 in the 10bet Sportsbook.
Andrea Petkovic v Sara Errani: 1.90 – 1.86
The first meeting of this pair of German and Italian players in 2015 sees them take to the court together for the fourth time in their careers. Petkovic won their first meeting in 2010 before both players shared a win each in 2014 with Errani winning in Madrid before Petkovic retook the lead in their own personal scorecard with a surprise 6-2, 6-2 victory at the quarter final stages of the French Open last year, but can she go 3-1 up today?
All three previous meetings have come on clay and both have shown they can win on this surface but neither have brought much form into this third round clash. Neither set the world alight in their build ups to the French Open and only one of the total four matches played by Petkovic and Errani has been won in straight sets at Roland Garros this year. We see this match going the distance just their first ever meeting five years ago and our money is on at least 23 games (+22) at 2.00 at 10bet.com.