French Open men and women’s semi-finals: Djokovic, Murray and Williams all in action
Published:
Sam Barnard, Assistant Sports Editor | June 2, 2016
2016 French Open
- Men and Women’s semi-finals
- Friday, June 3rd
- Matches scheduled: From 12:00 BST
- Roland Garros, Paris
- Live on ITV4 and Eurosport
Men’s singles semis
Stan Wawrinka v Andy Murray
Although Wawrinka is the defending French Open champion, Britain’s Murray is the 8/11 odds-on favourite with Coral for victory, given his terrific run up to the final and overall status in the game.
However, previous battles don’t make good reading for the Scot, who has lost all three meetings on clay against the Swiss (11/10), while has also been defeated in each of their past three matches on all surfaces.
A five-setter certainly looks on the cards here, and no doubt Murray will be determined to reach his first final at the French Open at the fourth attempt. Odds of 9/4 say there’ll be over 4.5 sets, while the Scotsman, who is 8-7 up in head-to-heads with Wawrinka, is 5/1 to triumph 3-2.
You can back Murray to go all the way too and claim his third Grand Slam at 4/1, though would have to face one of the following duo…
Novak Djokovic v Dominic Thiem
Austria’s Thiem (13/2 match shout) has certainly lived up to the hype and capitalised on his fine form in the build-up to the French Open by reaching his first ever Grand Slam semi-final.
He now faces the daunting task of going up against dominant world number one Djokovic (heavy 1/12 favourite), who is determined to finally claim a French Open title to complete the career Grand Slam.
The Serb (11/4 to win 3-1), who has beaten Thiem in both their previous meetings, however, nearly let his emotions coast him a place in the semis, as he almost hit an official after throwing his racket.
Thankfully for Djokovic, it just missed, and he said on the matter: “I am aware that I have been lucky. It was just some unfortunate bounce, but fortunate ending of the scenario. That’s all I can say.”
Women’s singles semis
Garbine Muguruza v Sam Stosur
Venezuelan-born Spaniard Muguruza (1/3 favourite) is on course for her second Grand Slam final, and first at the French Open, but has been tasked to come through 2010 runner-up Stosur (12/5).
The evergreen Australian has in fact won their only meeting, which happened to be on clay at the 2014 Madrid Masters in three sets, so is 9/2 to triumph 2-1 again.
If you fancy this match to either way, then why not take odds of 11/8 for there to be over 2.5 sets?
Serena Williams v Kiki Bertens
Defending women’s champion Serena (1/6 favourite) had to come from a set behind in her semi-final with Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, but took the last two with relative ease to set up a last four duel with Bertens (4/1).
The Dutchwoman had never even reached a Grand Slam quarter-final before this tournament but now faces the daunting task of taking on one of the all-time tennis greats.
Williams won their only meeting to date in straight sets at the US Open last year, but had to come through a tiebreak in the opener, so a 2-1 victory in her favour this time is 3/1.
All signs look promising for the American to claim a 22nd Grand Slam title, and she is the odds-on favourite at 8/13 to do so.
Related
Coral’s top tip: Murray is a tasty 5/1 price to beat Wawrinka 3-2.
