Roland Garros Expert Tips and Best Bets | May 20

The third day of French Open qualifying kicks off on Wednesday with a big slate of matches, with the dream of reaching the main draw of the French Open looking increasingly realistic for the players still left standing. The winners today will be just a match away from the bright lights of Grand Slam tennis, and below you can check out our best bets to advance through into the third round of qualifying.

Cecchinato has strong history at Roland Garros, having in the past reached the semi-finals, and while that was eight years ago, clay remains comfortably his best surface. The Italian has been playing almost exclusively on clay on the Challenger Tour and putting up some solid results, and will back himself against his less-credentialled opponent. Sakellaridis is a developing player but the 198th rank in which he currently finds himself is the best of his career; in contrast, the substantially more experienced Cecchinato has been ranked as high as 16, and on his preferred surface will back himself to win this one.

Arthur Fery has enjoyed some solid results on clay of late, making it through to the semi-final at his most recent event in Croatia. Martinez, in contrast, has been struggling, failing to make it past the first round in his last four tournaments. But while those results would point to Fery being the value selection here, there is a stark difference in the quality of opponent they have been playing. The more experienced Martinez hasn’t played a player ranked lower than 102 in his last seven tournaments; Ferry, meanwhile, has played just one player ranked in the top 190 over his last seven matches. Martinez enjoyed a confidence boosting 6-2 7-5 win in his opening qualifier, and should be able to assert his superiority over his younger opponent in this one. The $2.30 available for a straight sets win with some betting sites looks like solid value.

A nice value selection here to finish, with many betting apps offering close to $4 for this result. Kaja Juvan hasn’t had a hugely successful clay season to date, but she has very consistently been beating players ranked lower than her, and losing to top 100 players thereafter – justifying her world ranking of 113. Maristany Zuleta is ranked closer to 200, and while she’s enjoyed some winning form of late, it’s primarily been in more lowly tournaments against inferior players. The lower ranked Spaniard has shown an ability to take it up to her higher ranked opponents while Juvan has not been dominant in all her wins, so while the latter should be winning this match, it’s easy to see this one going the distance.