Daily French Open tips: Serena, Kerber and Berdych fancied to win
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American makes long-awaited Slam return
It’s day three of the French Open and the Coral News Team are on hand to try and pick out a few aces.
Plenty of big names are in action this afternoon, including the completion of Rafael Nadal’s first round clash, Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic.
But with that quartet heavily favoured to win, today’s tennis tips lie elsewhere. Starting with the return of a certain 23-time Slam champion…
It’s rare you’ll see Serena chalked up at 1/2 to win a match. But this is Williams’ first Slam appearance since the 2017 Australian Open.
The American returned in March but wasn’t quite ready, winning two of her four matches.
The French Open is her weakest event too, but despite all that, she should still have enough quality in hand to see off world number 70 Kristyna Pliskova.
Julia Georges sits some 21 places higher than her first round opponent Dominika Cibulkova.
But that belies the fact that Cibulkova was as high as fourth just 15 months ago. The Slovakian hasn’t been at her best so far this season, but an excellent run to the final in Strasbourg suggests she’s turned a corner.
Georges has reached two finals in 2018 however, so this one is poised to go all the way.
The French Open is the only Slam event Angelique Kerber has yet to appear in a final.
But the German should be easing through to round two against Mona Barthel.
Kerber leads the head-to-head 3-2, winning the last two meetings in straight sets. What’s more, Barthel has lost six of her last nine matches.
Statistically, the French Open is Tomas Berdych’s weakest Slam event, but the Czech hitter has reached the quarter-finals twice in the last four years.
Couple that with his thumping 5-0 head-to-head record over Jeremy Chardy and Berdych should be eying up a spot in round two.
All four of Leonardo Mayer’s ATP Tour Finals appearances have come on clay, although the Argentine has never quite enjoyed the same success at the French Open.
Nevertheless, he’ll be confident of reaching the second round. Mayer has won four of his five meetings with Frenchman Julian Benneteau, and the latter has won just one of his last six matches.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
