French Open - Day 4 preview

French Open Betting / Editor / 30 May 2007 / Leave a Comment

They got nearly 11 hours tennis at the French Open on Tuesday but the backlog from the first two days' disruption means that some players are still to complete their first match while others are tackling their second.

Seven men's first-round matches have to be completed today as the second round gets under way - with 10th seed Tomas Berdych in danger of following third seed Andy Roddick and fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez out of the tournament after losing the first two sets to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

But there are some intriguing second-round clashes.

Former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero takes on Stefan Koubek of Austria in a match that's among the pick of the bunch.

They have met seven times, with world No 20 Ferrero leading 4-3. One of those meetings was in 2001 at Roland Garros and Ferrero won in straight sets. They have met in two other Grand Slams since with Ferrero winning 8-6 in the fifth set in Wimbledon 2004 and Koubek avenging that one a few months later at the US Open in another five-setter.

Ferrero has an impressive record at Roland Garros - at least he did have, winning in 2003, runner-up in 2002 and a semi-finalist in the two years before that. But he has not gone beyond the last 32 since that 2003 triumph

He warmed up for Paris with a last-16 effort in Hamburg this month and a semi-final in Monte Carlo last month, but lost both times to Roger Federer.

Koubek has also had a strange time at the French Open. He reached the last 16 way back in 1999 but hasn't been anywhere near the fourth round since.

In the Paris countdown he reached the last 16 in Valencia and the last 32 in both Munich and Poertschach and for that reason Ferrero is trading at 1.13 with Betfair to win today and earn a third-round clash with Nicolas Lapentti or Mikhail Youzhny.

World No 15 Youzhny leads Lapentti 2-1 in head-to-heads with all three matches on clay. But they have not met since 2003.

Youzhny tuned up for Paris with a surge to the final of the Munich tournament before losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber, to go with his final appearances in Dubai, when he lost to Federer, and Rotterdam when he took the title by beating Ivan Ljubicic.

Lapentti, the former world No 6, has only played four tournaments this year and only two in recent weeks, his best effort being the last 16 in Poertschach two weeks ago.

The Russian, who will be 25 on June 25, should have the edge on his Ecuador rival who is 50 places below him in the rankings and is five years older. Youzhny is trading at 1.23 with Betfair to win today.

One other match to watch brings together Juan Ignacio Chela and Gael Monfils.

Monfils has won his only meeting with Chela (in Metz in 2005) and is in good form for this battle of the giants. The 6ft 4in 20-year-old was runner-up in Poertschach when he lost to Juan Monaco in the final and in Zagreb in early May he reached the semi-finals before losing to Janko Tipsarevic

Chela, seven years older and an inch shorter, has the edge in experience with four titles to Monfils' one and a world ranking of 21 to the Frenchman's 52.

One of his titles came in February when he won in Acapulco and during the clay court season his best effort was a Rome quarter-final where he lost to Fernando Gonzalez.

He was in the Argentine team which lost to the Czech Republic in last week's World Team Championships final.

Monfils is trading at 3.05 with Betfair to reach the third round and a likely clash with Chela's countryman David Nalbandian while Chela is 1.47 to win today.

Andy Murray may have missed Paris through injury and Tim Henman may have fallen in the first round but there is one Brit still worth watching. Murray's elder brother Jamie and American partner Eric Butora are out on Court 15 later today when they face Czech Tomas Cibulec and Aussie Jordan Kerr in the men's doubles first round.

The Roland Garros fans get their first sight of Maria Sharapova today in the women's singles, as the second seed takes on French player Emilie Loit in the first round. French No 1 and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo also swings into action against American Laura Granville.

But while Sharapova and Mauresmo are just getting started, top seed and two-time champion Justine Henin will play her second-round match against Tamira Paszek of Austria and 2002 champion Serena Williams meets Milagros Sequera of Venezuela.