There were not any Picks from Day 8 at the French Open as I was not going to have enough time to really research any selections, but Day 7 proved to be the best of the tournament for me so far.
Eleven Tennis Picks were made and eight of those returned winners to really push the number forward as the first week of the French Open came to a conclusion.
The large majority of the leading contenders are still going strong, but it was a real shame to see Elena Rybakina have to withdraw.
An illness was the reason given, which is the only positive for Rybakina who should be very much ready to defend the Wimbledon title she won last year, and it is likely that she will be a top four Seed in that event.
Her main rivals, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka are still on course for a meeting in the Final, although Sabalenka has yet to play on Day 8 with her match against Sloane Stephens the first WTA match scheduled for the night session.
That has been a producing a strong debate for a second year in a row with the lack of WTA matches scheduled for the Night Session, but usually it is being pushed by people who are not actually paying for tickets. For the money being spent on the one match Session, I do think most would want to see a best of five set match rather than the top WTA players potentially winning in under an hour.
This seems quite clear to me, but people love discussing 'fairness' without considering what the people spending money would consider a 'fair' match.
I love some of the WTA matches we are getting to see, but I think this is a discussion we will see for a while until we perhaps get a second Night Session on one of the show courts in the years ahead.
Nicolas Jarry-Casper Ruud over 39.5 games: It has been a really strange clay court season for Nicolas Jarry- he lost three straight matches in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, but Jarry was able to pick up a title in Geneva in the build up to the French Open and is playing the tournament at a career high World Ranking mark.
He is going to break into the top 30 of the World Rankings at the end of the second Grand Slam of the season and Nicolas Jarry may have ambitions for even greater in Paris. This is the first time he has reached the second week of any Grand Slam having previously failed to reach the Third Round in a major, but Jarry looks like he is going to be tough to stop having won seven matches in a row and producing some high-quality tennis in the French Open.
However, wins over Hugo Dellien, Tommy Paul and Marcos Giron are decent, although now Nicolas Jarry will have to beat last year's French Open Finalist and someone who is very comfortable on the red dirt. Casper Ruud has not really been flying through his matches this week and he has dropped a couple of sets in the opening three Rounds, but Ruud will feel he is readying to peak in the second week as he looks to go one step further than twelve months ago.
It has been a pretty consistent run in the tournament for Casper Ruud, although the numbers have weakened in each of the last two Rounds compared to the one before. The serve has remained pretty strong, but Casper Ruud will know he needs to be much more productive on the return of serve if he is going to beat a surging opponent like Nicolas Jarry who has dropped serve just three times in the first three Rounds.
Nicolas Jarry has a pretty limited return game too though and I think that will give Casper Ruud the edge in the match and ultimately help him through to the Quarter Final.
Nothing will come easy though if Nicolas Jarry is serving as he can, while the Chilean will be confident in winning this match considering he beat Casper Ruud in Geneva prior to the French Open beginning. Both players were serving at a very high level in that match with just four breaks of serve in a match that needed all three sets to determine the winner and this contest in Paris could be another one that goes long.
I would have made Casper Ruud a slightly stronger favourite than the layers have done, but am expecting a tough match for the 2022 French Open Runner Up. Four sets might be needed to get through and that should mean enough games to cover the total line set for this Fourth Round match with at least one and possibly two tie-breakers needed.
Alexander Zverev - 3.5 games v Grigor Dimitrov: After slowly making his way through the draw under the radar, Grigor Dimitrov will be back in a primetime spot on Day 9 at the French Open in a Fourth Round match scheduled for the Night Session. The former World Number 3 is edging closer to a return to the top 20 after his three wins in Paris and Grigor Dimitrov has been enjoying a pretty productive clay court season.
The draws in Madrid and Rome were not very kind to the Bulgarian as he suffered early defeats to Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, but reaching the Final in Geneva has clearly given Dimitrov the confidence to play well here.
Now he will take aim at trying to reach the Quarter Final at the French Open for the first time in his career, but this is another tough test for Dimitrov when facing Alexander Zverev.
Over recent years, Alexander Zverev has been the better clay courter of the two by some margin and he did have a good looking win over Frances Tiafoe in the Third Round. Coming from a set down to beat the World Number 12 in four sets will have given Zverev a lot of confidence and he deserved his victory even if he had to win a couple of tie-breakers to do that.
Alexander Zverev has been the better return player on the clay over the last couple of months and he has looked strong in that side of his tennis over the last couple of wins. The Grigor Dimitrov numbers in this tournament have been very good, but it should be pointed out that he has beaten players Ranked Number 147, 46 and 79 in the three wins in Paris and this is a marked step up in level of competition.
In 2023, Grigor Dimitrov is just 3-3 against top 50 Ranked opponents on the clay courts, while Alexander Zverev has won their last three meetings, including their sole previous match on the red dirt in Rome in 2016.
That match should not have any real impact on this one, but I do think the superior play will likely come from Alexander Zverev and the more consistent return game can help the German come through with a good, strong win.
Tomas Martin Etcheverry - 5.5 games v Yoshihito Nishioka: The winner of this Fourth Round match is going to be the underdog in any potential Quarter Final, but all credit has to be given to Yoshihito Nishioka and Tomas Martin Etcheverry for taking advantage of the way the draw has opened up.
This was supposed to be a section of the draw led by World Number 2 Daniil Medvedev, but Yoshihito Nishioka saw off his conqueror in the Third Round and this is the second consecutive Grand Slam in which he has reached the Fourth Round. He did that in Australia earlier this year, which was the first time Nishioka had made it that far in a Slam, and backing that up on the clay courts is a super achievement for him.
It has already been a tough, gruelling tournament for the Japanese player who has needed over ten hours on the court to win his three matches in the draw. The fact is that Yoshihito Nishioka has also had to spend a lot of emotional energy to come from 2-0 down in the First Round and 2-1 down to Thiago Seyboth Wild in the Third Round, while he did look the weaker player in the win over Seyboth Wild before the capitulation of the lower Ranked player in the deciding set.
He will battle and he will make opponents work, but Tomas Martin Etcheverry is unlikely to be flustered by having to spend time on the red dirt.
Tomas Martin Etcheverry has beaten two top 20 Ranked players already in the tournament and the Argentine has yet to drop a set thanks to some high-quality serving numbers. Those should be tested by someone like Nishioka, who has a fine return game, but I also think Etcheverry is going to get plenty of joy from the Nishioka serve and will rack up some Break Points.
This has been a breakthrough tournament for the 23 year old and Tomas Martin Etcheverry is likely to feel some nerves entering the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time. However, he is clearly very comfortable on the clay courts having put together a strong season on this surface, while Yoshihito Nishioka came into the French Open having lost all three previous matches against top 50 Ranked opponents and really struggling in the majority of aspects of his tennis.
He did really well to come from behind to win in the last Round, but Tomas Martin Etcheverry can hold himself a little better than Thiago Seyboth Wild was able to do and just make sure he does not lose control if he gets in front in this match.
Other Selections: There is a really good Fourth Round match between Holger Rune and Francisco Cerundolo and I do think it is going to be a competitive one.
However, I do think Rune has a bit more behind the serve and the return and ultimately that can see him come through in three or four tight sets against an opponent who had not had a lot of success at the French Open prior to this season.
Iga Swiatek is expected to brush aside Lesia Tsurenko, a player she has beaten for the loss of just two games at the French Open in 2022 and in Rome last month.
I also expect favourites Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur to beat surprising Fourth Round opponents- Coco Gauff is playing at a really good level and is a big step up for Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, while Bernarda Pera has played well here this week, but been winning matches with tight margins that could be tough to replicate against an opponent like Jabeur.
The toughest match to call looks to be the one between Sara Sorribes Tormo and Beatriz Haddad Maia and I can make a case for both players. The layers are finding it pretty difficult to separate the two players too and I think it is one to take a watching brief to see how the winner is operating before the Quarter Final Round on Wednesday.
MY PICKS: Nicolas Jarry-Casper Ruud Over 39.5 Games @ 1.91 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Alexander Zverev - 3.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Tomas Martin Etcheverry - 5.5 Games @ 1.72 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Holger Rune - 1.5 Sets @ 1.70 Coral (2 Units)
Iga Swiatek - 7.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)
Coco Gauff - 5.5 Games @ 1.91 Coral (2 Units)
Ons Jabeur - 4.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)
French Open Update: 32-21, + 11.72 Units (106 Units Staked, + 11.06% Yield)
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