French Open third round: Fab France four feature on Friday
Published:
The first Friday of the 2015 French Open sees four home hopes from the Men’s section in action in the third round, as one of them will be bidding to be the first from their nation to win this event since Yannick Noah in 1983.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (80/1 tournament shout with Coral) and Gael Monfils (40/1), who have both reached the semis here before, face respective matches against Pablo Andujar and Pablo Gabriel Cuevas. Gilles Simon, meanwhile, faces veteran compatriot and wildcard this year Nicolas Mahut.
Both Tsonga (2/5), Monfils (4/11) and Simon (1/10) are odds-on to win their battles, but Mahut is a tempting 11/2 shout to cause a shock.
Elsewhere, another lesser-known Frenchman is also in action, as giant Benoit Paire (6/1 for victory) has been paired with fourth seed Tomas Berdych (1/12). You can back 2010 semi-finalist Czech Berdych to win the French Open at 22/1, for his first Grand Slam title.
Marin Cilic is another star name that will take to the courts, and he is a longer 200/1 chance to add this trophy to his US Open triumph last year. The Croatian ninth seed (8/15 match favourite) faces a tough task against Argentine Leonardo Mayer (11/8), though.
This duo have met once before, which was at this event back in 2010, and Cilic edged the epic in five sets. You can back him at an enticing 5/1 to win 3-2 once more.
Swiss duo Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka also feature, and you can view our preview of their encounters here, along with two tasty Women’s clashes, as Maria Sharapova takes on Sam Stosur and Sabine Lisicki duels with Lucie Safarova.
Other female stars in action include current Wimbledon champion and fourth seed Petra Kvitova (1/4), who takes on Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu (11/4), and 2008 French Open winner Ana Ivanovic (1/6). The latter is up against Donna Vekic (7/2).
You can back top 10 seeds Czech Kvitova and Serb Ivanovic at 10/1 and 25/1 respectively to claim the title at Roland Garros this year.
Spanish clay court specialist Carla Suarez Navarro, meanwhile, is odds-on at 4/11 to see off Flavia Pennetta (2/1), and is 12/1 to win the French Open.
