French Open Monday Tips: First round failure looms for Raducanu
There are 24 matches on day two of the women's singles at the French Open today, and Dan Weston has the pick of the betting
Big names - Swiatek unlikely to follow Jabeur and Muguruza
The big shock yesterday in Paris was Ons Jabeur's three-set loss to Magda Linette, with the pre-tournament third-favourite the shortest priced player to be eliminated on the opening day. Garbine Muguruza was another big name loss, against Kaia Kanepi.
It looks highly improbable that Iga Swiatek will follow Jabeur and Muguruza to the exit door today. The world number one is a [ ] favourite to ease past the Ukrainian qualifier, Lesia Tsurenko, who came into the tournament with an elbow issue. Swiatek adding to her recent array of opponent bagels is a potential prospect.
Vulnerable favourites - Krejcikova on return
Former champion Barbora Krejcikova has more question marks than Swiatek to answer. The Czech hasn't played for three months, last featuring in Doha in February, so it's not hugely surprising to see her drifting slightly in the market.
Today, Krejcikova faces the French player Diane Parry, who although unimpressing so far this season hasn't got a bad record on clay at all at lower levels, with a particularly strong return game. Towards the end of 2021, Parry reached four consecutive semi-finals on clay at lower levels, winning two of those events, and has just broken into the top 100 for the first time. I think the first couple of service games for each player will give a good guide to how this match will go, but Krejcikova at 1.25 does look a little vulnerable here.
Vulnerable favourites II - Raducanu with much to prove
Another vulnerable favourite looks to be the Brit, Emma Raducanu.
It's probably fair to say that Raducanu has underwhelmed following her shock win as a qualifier at the US Open, and she's certainly not been particularly impressive on clay.
She retired last time out against Bianca Andreescu in Rome, so facing a venue-sharp lower-ranked player in Linda Noskova who won three matches in qualifying to be here could be a recipe for another upset.
Noskova won an ITF indoors in Croissy-Beaubourg last month, and also did at the end of last year too - albeit against mediocre opposition - but her return-oriented game could well put pressure on the Raducanu serve here today. Raducanu at 1.36 looks far from a foregone conclusion.
British interest - Watson with much to prove
Raducanu's countrywoman, Heather Watson, has a pretty dire record on clay in recent years, with poor numbers on both serve and return, and was thrashed last week in Strasbourg by Magda Linette. This came after a 6-0 6-2 demolition at the hands of Madison Brengle in the Saint-Malo Challenger, and Watson's clay level this year gives no insight into an improvement in her fortunes on the surface.
Given this, it's not a shock to see the French wild card Elsa Jacquemot receive some market support. She beat top 100 player Anna Kalinskaya pretty easily of late on the surface in the Paris Challenger, and has picked up some wins at lower level albeit against quite poor opposition for the most part. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Jacquemot got the win here.
Match of the day - Anisimova versus Osaka
Arguably the match of the day - in fact in the early rounds full stop - is Amanda Anisimova versus Naomi Osaka. After some impressive performances of late on clay in high profile events, Anisimova is the [ ] favourite, which seems about right considering Osaka's lack of court time on clay this season following inj
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