Roland Garros Expert Tips and Best Bets | June 4

The second day of the French Open quarterfinals were a little bit of a letdown, with no particularly close matches and one of the four ending in a walkover. Nonetheless, it leaves us with four enthralling semi-finals, with the two women’s matches set to take place on Thursday. Take a look at our best bets for those matches below.

Both Kostyuk and Andreeva have been terrific throughout the course of the French Open, but it is getting increasingly difficult to ignore the Ukrainian’s case for the title. Kostyuk has now won an incredible 16 matches in a row after knocking off Svitolina in three sets last round, having won her previous two tournaments before fighting her way through to the semis at Roland Garros, that last win against 7-seed Svitolina following a crushing defeat of 3-seed Iga Swiatek. That’s not to downplay the case of Andreeva; the Russian has dropped just one set all tournament, has made three consecutive French Open quarterfinals and had a strong few weeks coming into Roland Garros. But Andreeva hasn’t been tested in the way Kostyuk has, her highest opponent being seeded 18. Kostyuk has been beating the best players in the world over the past few days, and can continue her incredible run here.

Sticking with the same match, Kostyuk to record 3+ aces looks like serious value at well over even money on the betting apps. After recording just one in her first match, Kostyuk has had 8, 4, 5 and 4 aces in her last four, with all but one of those coming in just two sets. She’s been cruising past this number even in shorter matches, and with Andreeva not likely to go down without a fight Kostyuk will likely have more service games in this one than she has in previous matches. These odds look far too high.

It’s not often you see two players ranked where these two are in a semi-final at a Grand Slam, but here we are. Shnaider is the comfortable favourite here as the 25 seed, with Chwalinska having made an incredible run as the world number 114. The Pole’s story is quite unbelievable; this is just the third Grand Slam she’s competed in throughout a seven-season pro career, and she’d won just one match at those previous two. Impressive as she’s been, however, she has managed to avoid playing anyone ranked higher than 22 in the world. Shnaider had been the beneficiary of a similarly friendly draw until she met world number one Aryna Sabalenka last round, but she promptly bounced back from a set down to win, crushing the world’s best 6-0 in the third set. That was a hard performance to ignore, and suggests that Chwalinska might have her work cut out here.