Recommended bets:
2pts Magda Linette to beat Laylah Fernandez at 8/11
1pt over 12.5 games in first set of Jack Sock v Reilly Opelka at 11/4
Magda Linette v Laylah Fernandez
Fernandez is the junior champion at Roland Garros and an undoubted prospect – there was a good piece on the teenager in The Times this weekend.
However, it’s hard to justify her price in this match.
Linette is seeded and has been playing some decent stuff on clay of late.
She beat former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko in Rome before losing to Elise Mertens (no disgrace there).
Then in Strasbourg last week she beat Pauline Parmentier before pushing eventual winner Elina Svitolina hard, the final score being 7-6 7-5.
At last year’s French Open she took a set off Simona Halep.
In contrast, Fernandez played none of the warm-up events. Indeed, she has contested just a singles tour-level match on clay, losing that heavily in the Fed Cup last year.
I’m pretty sure Linette should be shorter than the 8/11 you can get – 4/6 is just as acceptable.
Jack Sock v Reilly Opelka
The hoped for first-set tie-break between John Isner and Elliot Benchetrit failed to materialise on Sunday, the Frenchman losing his serve having got to 4-4.
However, I’m prepared to play the market again despite the slow conditions in Paris.
Isner showed what a massive serve can still do when it’s playing heavy (Benchetrit failed to create a break point in their first set and didn’t break serve in the match) and something similar can be expected from Opelka.
Six of his last eight ‘first sets’ on clay have gone the distance which says much.
Sock’s serve may not be as strong as Opelka’s – few are – but it’s far from weak. He’s cranked it up towards 140mph in the past.
Three of his seven sets in qualifying went to a breaker so I can see the opener being a set where serve largely holds sway.
Therefore 11/4 about the first set having over 12.5 games looks worthy of small support.
Preview posted 1900 BST on 27/09/2020
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