Roland Garros Expert Tips and Best Bets | May 28

The second round of the French Open continues on Thursday, with both world number ones taking to Court Philippe-Chartier and plenty of other big names included in amongst the action. Take a look at our three best bets across the day’s play below.

This is an intriguing match, and one in which the higher ranked Tiafoe looks like great value at better than even money odds with most betting sites. Hurkacz is a strong player who was once ranked inside the top 10, so this is a tough match-up for the 19th seeded American Tiafoe, particularly given he hasn’t typically excelled on clay. However, he has improved dramatically on the surface recently, securing a career-best quarterfinal appearance last year. Hurkacz, meanwhile, had a solid run of 3rd and 4th round finishes here, but was knocked out in the 1st round last year. This one could easily go the distance and a case can be made for both players, but Tiafoe’s odds are too long and he is clearly the value bet.

Jaime Faria is absolutely flying at the moment. The 22-year-old from Portugal worked his way through qualifying with three hard-fought win, and he carried that momentum into the main draw with a straight sets win over former world number 10 Denis Shapovalov. Jan-Lennard Struff is a decent player, but clay is a long way from his preferred surface and his results this season on it have been poor. In five previous tournaments, he’s been knocked out in the 1st round three times and the 2nd round the other two, and multiple of those losses have been against quite lowly-ranked opposition. Faria comes into this with his confidence flying high and against a player who struggles on clay, he looks likely to make an unlikely appearance in the final 32.

Osaka is coming into some strong form at the right time, and kicked off her French Open campaign with a hard-fought but comfortable straight sets win in Round 1. Donna Vekic is no walkover, and she has put in some really solid performances on clay so far this season, but while she’s enjoyed plenty of wins, she’s barely played anyone in the top 100 in that time. Naomi Osaka will be her most difficult opponent on clay by some margin so far this year, and expect the class differential between these two to show. Nearly even money with most betting apps for Osaka to win in straight sets looks like good value.