Our tennis expert Andy Schooler previews Tuesday’s first-round action at the French Open.
Tennis betting tips: French Open matches
1pt Daniil Medvedev to beat Cameron Norrie 3-0 at 6/4 (bet365)
1pt Over 33.5 games in Alex de Minaur v Laslo Djere at 4/5 (William Hill, 888sport)
1pt Hubert Hurkacz to beat Joao Fonseca at 6/5 (General)
Daniil Medvedev v Cameron Norrie
This just looks a match-up that doesn’t work for Norrie.
This will be the pair’s fifth meeting and the first four have all been won in straight sets by Medvedev, the most recent coming on the clay of Rome earlier this month.
Most worrying is the detail of the numbers.
Norrie has held in just 44% of his service games in the series, breaking only 14% of the time. Those are the worst such numbers I can in any head-to-head.
OK, Norrie did play well in Geneva last week, pushing eventual champion Novak Djokovic to a final set in their semi-final. But does that mean he’s about to turn those numbers on their head?
Clay isn’t Medvedev’s best surface but it should be ed he’s a former champion in Rome and has been to the least eight here before.
He’s not been playing badly with his recent clay losses all coming against high-quality opponents – Lorenzo Musetti in Rome, eventual champ Casper Ruud in Madrid and Alex de Minaur in Monte Carlo.
Another straight-sets win for the Russian is a 6/4 shot – worth backing in my opinion.
CLICK HERE to back Medvedev to win 3-0 with Sky Bet
Alex de Minaur v Laslo Djere
Djere just looks a bit on the large side here at 10/3.
He’s a very solid claycourter, as he showed in South America earlier this season where he won the title in Santiago and made the semis in Buenos Aires.
Wins in Europe have been harder to come by but then running into Carlos Alcaraz twice has hardly helped on that front.
ittedly, he’s down 3-0 on the head-to-head here but the pair have never met on this surface, while two of the defeats have seen Djere force a deciding set.
Both players will look to grind this out and it may be that De Minaur just does everything that bit better.
Yet, he’s not been in scintillating form of late.
I watched him produce a lot of errors in defeat to Tommy Paul in Rome – a player he’d won five out of five against going into the match – and I’m far from convinced he’ll manage to dominate this one from start to finish.
While you might want to chance Djere at 10/3, preference is to play the total-games market.
Over 33.5 games at 4/5 looks worth an interest.
Djere has won sets against top-10 players at Roland Garros before – Andrey Rublev in 2023 and Kei Nishikori in 2019 – and if he manages to grab one here, then this bet should land.
I think he’s more than capable of doing so.
CLICK HERE to back over 33.5 games with Sky Bet
Joao Fonseca v Hubert Hurkacz
Fonseca’s talent is not in question but current form is and I’m not sure he’s deserving of favouritism here.
The rising Brazilian star has won just one of his four matches on the European clay this season, recently suffering first-round defeats to Jesper de Jong and Fabian Marozsan.
Hurkacz, meanwhile, looked good in Rome and backed that up last week in Geneva where we tipped him at 14/1 only to see him lose narrowly in the final.
The Pole, who led 4-2 in the final set against Novak Djokovic, was just a game away from victory in both the second and third sets but lost both of them on a tie-break. A harsh way to lose.
Still, the point is he’s in strong form and his opponent is not.
Hurkacz has the power in both his serve and groundstrokes to deny Fonseca the rhythm he craves and while the youngster will undoubtedly let rip and fire winners at times, whether he can do so consistently at present remains to be seen.
Hurkacz appeals as an underdog with potential on Tuesday’s order of play.
CLICK HERE to back Hurkacz with Sky Bet
Posted at 2100 BST on 26/05/25
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