2016 ATP French Open Top Betting Picks for the Men’s Round

Posted by Jordan Walters on Tuesday,May 24, 2016 12:32, EDT in

French Open No. 2 seed Andy Murray was pushed to the limit in his first-round match on the red clay of Roland Garros, but he is a big favorite on betting picks Wednesday for a second-round match against Mathais Bourgue, who will certainly have the crowd on his side as he is from France. Make sure to keep up with the latest Roland Garros tennis odds at Mybookie.ag.

2016 ATP French Open Top Betting Picks for the Men’s Round

Andy Murray vs Mathias Bourgue

Murray, who is the third-favorite to win this event behind Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, trailed Radek Stepanek by two-sets-to-one when fading light forced the players off on Monday evening, and after collecting a break to level the match, Murray still had to dig deep for a 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 victory. The Czech, the oldest man in the draw at 37, refused to be brushed aside by the British No. 1 and was just two points from victory while Murray served at 5-4 in the final set. Murray was never comfortable with Stepanek’s crafty and unpredictable game, with its deft touches and sudden ambushes at the net, and often found himself scrambling around the baseline in desperate defense.

“It is unbelievable what he is doing,” said Murray of Stepanek, the world No. 129, who is the oldest man to play a grand-slam event since Jimmy Connors in 1991. “He had a bad injury last year yet at 37 is still coming out and fighting like he is. I don’t expect to be doing that at his age! I am just pleased to have got through.”

Next up for Murray is the French wild-card Bourgue ranked 165, who shouldn’t cause Murray as many problems. Murray though will be playing for the third day in succession. Bourgue advanced with a 7-5, 7-6, 7-6 win over Jordi Samper-Montana. It’s the first-ever meeting between Murray and Bourgue.

Rafael Nadal vs Facundo Bagnis

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal, the fourth seed, rolled over Australian Sam Groth 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. The No. 100 ranked Groth was broken in just the third game of the match and his form quickly disintegrated, as he sent a number of simple forehands long, and struggled to pin Nadal back with his serve. In each of the first two sets, Nadal permitted Groth just one point against his serve per set. In the entire match, the Spaniard gave away just three unforced errors, at a rate of one per set, against a total of 24 winners. His domination was such that that in the first set he produced a streak of 11 winning points in a row, and in the second set another of 14 successive points. He produced love-hold after love-hold, winning almost 90 percent of points on his first serve. Nadal closed out his 71st win at Roland Garros at the first opportunity with an unreachable backhand return. He is looking for his 10th title here and only has lost twice.

Nadal will face Argentine Facundo Bagnis, who is ranked 99th in the world and is a lefty like Nadal. Bagnis beat Frenchman Kenny De Schepper in straight sets in the first round. Bagnis has won one ATP doubles event at Stuttgart and four Challengers in singles, achieving a career-high singles ranking of world No. 89 in April 2016. Bagnis secured his biggest victory (and first at Grand Slam level) when he defeated Julien Benneteau in the first round of the 2014 French Open, winning the deciding set 18–16.

My Expert Prediction

I expect straight set wins in online betting for both Nadal and Murray.