You can find my two outright picks from the Men's draw here
The first day of the French Open 2013 is in the books and it was a day of few surprises when analysing it. The biggest surprise of the day was the defeat for Venus Williams, the first time she has been beaten in the First Round at the French Open for over a decade.
In all honesty, it was probably less of a surprise than you would initially think as Venus is certainly on a downward curve in her career and she is not the force of old. The clay courts have also been her worst surface and I think the return to the grass courts will do her good in the coming weeks.
The most impressive performance of the day was from Lleyton Hewitt in his loss to Gilles Simon- Hewitt may have ultimately lost the match, but he played some stunning tennis early and then showed tremendous heart to come back from 5-0 down in the final set to level at 5-5. However, it was not to be for the Australian, although the performance here will at least give him confidence going into the grass court season where Hewitt will feel a lot more comfortable than on the clay courts.
Wins for the likes of Roger Federer and Serena Williams came easily enough and both of those players will at least be off until Wednesday now as they get involved in the Grand Slam tournament.
The picks on Day 1 went 1-1 with the Marcel Granollers-Feliciano Lopez match being delayed by darkness. That last match is tied at 2-2 in sets, although a win for Granollers would see him cover the spread.
Day 2 Picks are as follows:
Tomas Berdych - 5.5 games v Gael Monfils: Gael Monfils should have picked up some confidence from his win in the Challenger event at Bordeaux which he followed with a run to the Final in Nice last week, but he may also be a little fatigued at the start of this tournament.
Monfils needed a Wild Card to take his place in the French Open draw as injuries and a loss of form has seen his Ranking plummet to outside of the top 100. Now he faces Tomas Berdych, a man who has had plenty of good wins this week, although yet to turn that into a title success.
Talking about confidence, Berdych wouldn't have been able to get much more than from his win against Novak Djokovic during this clay court season and he is certainly one of the danger men in the draw, even if his actual path to the Final looks one with a number of tough hurdles to overcome.
The Czech player has dominated Gael Monfils when they have met in the past and has recorded wins in all 3 matches he has played against him. I would guess that he is capable of doing the same here and win this one in three, possibly four sets. I believe Berdych will win at least one set fairly comfortably, either 61 or 62 and that should give him a real chance to cover the spread.
John Isner v Carlos Berlocq: There is little doubt that Carlos Berlocq is the more accustomed clay court player of the two in this one, but John Isner is no mug on the surface and I think the American has every chance of coming through as the surprise winner in this one.
The Isner serve is still effective enough on the slower courts to think he will have an easier time holding serve than his opponent, while Berlocq can be erratic at times and makes quite a few errors. The Argentinian's serve is not the best either and I think Isner will get chances to break serve and perhaps surprise Berlocq.
Neither player can talk about being in good form at the moment, but I believe Isner's game is a little more reliable, especially early in a tournament, than Berlocq's so I will look for the surprise here.
Jarkko Nieminen - 3.5 games v Paul-Henri Mathieu: Both of these players had a decent week on the Tour last week, showing some signs of form going into the Grand Slam, but I believe Jarkko Nieminen will continue his dominance of Paul-Henri Mathieu in this one.
Mathieu's injuries have slowed him down and while still capable of putting together flashy shots, he also makes a lot more unforced errors and that is where I think Nieminen will eventually find his success.
Of the two players, I do think that Mathieu has suffered the more disappointing losses during this clay court season and even with the home crowd behind him, I would fancy Nieminen to see him off in four sets.
MY PICKS: Tomas Berdych - 5.5 Games @ 1.83 Ladbrokes (2 Units)
John Isner @ 2.10 Sporting Bet (2 Units)
Jarkko Nieminen - 3.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Marcel Granollers - 3.5 Games @ 1.80 Sky Bet (2 Units) To be completed
French Open Update: 1-1, - 0.10 Units (4 Units Staked, - 1% Yield)
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