French Open semis: Djokovic meets Murray and Tsonga tackles Wawrinka

Just four remain in the hunt to be French Open men’s singles champion at Roland Garros, and we are guaranteed a new winner of the clay court Grand Slam, following the quarter-final exit of nine-time and reigning champion Rafael Nadal.

His conqueror, Novak Djokovic is Coral’s firm odds-on 1/3 favourite, and the man atop of the ATP world rankings faces another fixture with Andy Murray (13/2 chance).

There’s still a home hope left in this year’s French Open, though, in 22/1 tournament outsider Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who plays 5/1 second-favourite Stan Wawrinka with their head-to-heads tied at three wins apiece.

With nothing to choose between 14th seed Tsonga and Swiss number two Wawrinka on previous meetings, this makes for an intriguing encounter.

As Wawrinka knocked out compatriot and all-time tennis great Roger Federer in the quarters, he is made an odds-on 4/9 favourite to reach the final. What’s interesting is, although Wawrinka has won their last two clashes on clay, he’s dropped a set in the process.

If punters want to back Wawrinka, then take a tasty 3/1 price on him winning in four sets. There’s a lot to like about Tsonga, however, who has raised his game to come through thrilling contests with top five seeds Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori.

This will either go one of two ways; either Tsonga is battle-hardened, and an astute bet at 7/4 to win again against Wawrinka, or those tough prior victories will have taken their toll. These two don’t do straight sets wins, so again you’d be well advised to take 11/2 on Tsonga beating his Swiss foe 3-1.

Since losing the 2013 Wimbledon final to British number one Murray, Serbia star Djokovic has recorded seven straight wins against the Scot. As a result, the best male tennis player in the world is a strong odds-on 1/5 favourite to be in the final.

Murray, 7/2 to cause an upset, has done exceptionally well during what has been his best ever clay-court campaign, but this battles looks beyond him sadly. “I feel like I understand how I have to play on the surface better than I did in the past,” he said. “I’m playing much better than I was a couple of years ago.”

Djokovic has been deadly here, however, and his subsequent Grand Slam meetings with this opponent since losing that Wimbledon final were victories in four sets, including in the Australian Open final this year. Awesome odds of 11/4 say Murray will succumb 3-1 to the Serb.

Coral betting tip: Nobody has raised their game at Roland Garros this year quite like Tsonga, so take superb 7/4 odds for him to win against Wawrinka.