French Open champ Nadal starts the defence of his title
Published:Today’s French Open betting action offers plenty of value for punters scouring the markets, although Rafael Nadal’s match with John Isner isn’t one for the bettors.
Nadal is the 1/100 favourite to beat a man who was made famous at last year’s Wimbledon when prevailing in the longest match in tennis history, and the big serving American will struggle on the clay court.
While we could wax lyrical about Nadal’s clay court quality as he bids for his sixth French Open title, we’d rather highlight the value in today’s French Open betting.
Juan Monaco vs Fernando Verdasco
This is easily the highlight of the first round betting and we could be in for an early upset with Monaco the 11/8 underdog to beat Verdasco.
Monaco has won four of his last five matches against Verdasco and all of these victories came on clay, including at Roland Garros in 2006, and the Argentine has the form to upset the Spaniard.
Verdasco is the 8/15 favourite but must beat a man who won the Dusseldorf World Team Cup last week and we fancy Monaco to win in four sets at 9/2.
Kevin Anderson vs Nicholas Mahut
Mahut has played little tennis on clay courts this season and it’s this reason why the Frenchman is the 6/4 underdog to beat Anderson.
Anderson hasn’t shown great form on the clay courts bar a quarter-final appearance in Portugal but holds the favouritism at 1/2.
Neither are great clay court players and won’t be featuring in the latter rounds of the competition, but take Mahut to upset Anderson despite the fact he’s only progressed past the first round of the French Open once in eleven attempts.
Jeremy Chardy vs Grigor Dimitrov
Chardy may be the 8/13 favourite but his opponent has shown the stronger form on clay courts this season and so we’re tipping Dimitrov to make it a hat-trick of upsets at 6/5.
A £10 treble on Monaco, Mahut and Chardy all winning would return £95.90. Sign up here to take advantage of a free bet worth up to £30.
