French Open Betting / Ben Caudell / 27 May 2010 /

A young Ukranian is out to upset the odds against last year's semi-finalist while a certain Serbian star is getting back to her best. Ben Caudell selects the best bets.

Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr (UKR) v Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) -
The relatively unknown Ukrainian Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr - not to be confused with his father, a former ATP pro of the same name - has gone about his business without anyone paying attention to the gigantic strides this player has made over the last year. The tennis world began to take notice when the pony-tailed 22-year-old faced Rafael Nadal in the second round of the Madrid Masters. Having already won two qualifying matches and a first round victory over Andreas Seppi, Dolgopolov Jr held his own against Nadal, at times played tennis worthy of a top 10 player, before losing 6-4 6-3.

The extent to which the young Ukrainian has improved over the last year is represented in the leap he has made in the ATP World Rankings - this time last year Dolgopolov was ranked 338, he is now ranked at an all time high of 56.

Last years semi-finalist Fernando Gonzalez hasn't been able to bring his A game into this year's tournament. His substandard performances in Houston and Barcelona, where he lost to Horacio Zeballos and Albert Ramos Vinolas respectively, provides today's opponent with the confidence to upset one of the biggest hitters on tour. Gonzalez is 8-2 in Grand Slam matches, 7-3 on Clay and has won five of the last six matches when priced as the Moderate favourite, Oleksandr Dolgopolov has won nine of the last 10 when his opponent is a big server and is 6-4 on the clay.

Dolgopolov has a great chance of upsetting the odds today so will be backing him pre-match with the intention of trading out at a lower price, backing the handicap is also an option if you can be matched at anything above 2.1

Selection: Back Oleksandr Dolgopolov @ 3.8 to win match
Back Dolgopolov +5.5 Games @ 2.1 or above

Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) v Ana Ivanovic (SRB)

Ana Ivanovic is starting to show signs of getting back to her very best after a terrible 18 months. The former world number one and French Open Champion of 2008 has amazingly slipped to 42 in the WTA World Rankings due to her below par performances on the indoor and outdoor hard courts. Her lowest point was the Federation Cup tie with Russia this February in which the Serbian was totally outclassed by Svetlana Kuznetsova and today's opponent Alisa Kleybanova.

Thankfully the clay court season couldn't have come any sooner for Ivanovic, who plays her best tennis on the dirt. Judging by her results and form coming into Rolland Garros we can start to expect a lot more from one of the most liked tennis players on the circuit.

I am a little surprised to see Ivanovic as only a slight favourite to win this match considering her past record at the French Open. This will be Ana's fifth year at Rolland Garros, she made the quarter finals in 2005, third round in 2006, final in 2007, and won the championship in 2008, last year she still managed to make it through three rounds before losing to Victoria Azarenka, her current record at the French Open is 9-1. At the Madrid Open earlier this month Ana put together a string of decent results (Victoria Azarenka, Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova) before bowing out at the semi-final stage to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Kleybanova leads the head-to-head 2-1; all three matches were played on hard courts, a surface more suited to the powerful Russian. On the clay Kleybanova has a 5-5 record with only two wins this year. The Russian who isn't the most agile of female tennis players will struggle with her movement against Ivanovic who will focus on moving the big Russian tirelessly from side to side. The drop shot will be the key weapon for Ivanovic, if she uses this wisely the Serbian should make it comfortably through to the next round

Selection: Back Ana Ivanovic @ [1.7] to win match

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