The French Open continues on Monday as the remaining Quarter Final places are contested.
With better conditions expected all around, the last of the late night finishes might finally be behind us.
Mirra Andreeva - 4.5 games v Varvara Gracheva: Two young players meet with a big opportunity in front of them to reach the French Open Quarter Final, although one of the names is more surprising than the other.
After some stunning results last year, Mirra Andreeva has been a name to look out for and the only recently turned 17 year old is continuing to develop at a rapid rate. Three wins in Paris means she has already reached the Fourth Round in three of the four Grand Slams played having surpassed her Third Round run last year and the young Russian is playing with a lot of confidence.
A couple of Quarter Final runs on the clay courts in the build up to the French Open continues to underline the potential that Mirra Andreeva has and she has played well here having overcome a slump to outlast Victoria Azarenka in the Second Round. The other two wins have been comfortable, but Andreeva will be dealing with a player performing at a strong level and one that will have the home crowd behind her.
This is the first year that Varvara Gracheva has played at the French Open with the French flag beside her name having earned the right to represent the nation last year. Having previously twice reached the Third Round here, the win in the last Round means Varvara Gracheva has entered the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time and she has looked strong throughout the tournament since dropping the opening set to Maria Sakkari.
Six straight sets have been won since then, although the form in the lead up to the French Open may not have offered much suggestion that Varvara Gracheva was ready for this run.
While she has been competitive in some matches, Varvara Gracheva has a vulnerable serve and that may be exploited by someone with the talent of Mirra Andreeva.
The younger of the two player is also developing in her service part of her tennis, but Mirra Andreeva has been the superior return player and that is expected to see her past Varvara Gracheva. It should be a good match and Andreeva is going to have to handle the loud support in favour of her opponent, but she can break new ground in what is expected to be a career filled with Grand Slam trophies.
Novak Djokovic - 6.5 games v Francisco Cerundolo: A strong first half of the 2023 season took Francisco Cerundolo to a new career high World Ranking inside the top 20, but he has slipped a little bit since June 2023.
He reached the Fourth Round in Paris twelve months ago before losing a tight match to Holger Rune, but surpassing that achievement for his first Quarter Final at Grand Slam level is going to be a considerable challenge. The clay courts are favoured by Francisco Cerundolo, but there has been little in the lead up to the French Open to suggest he is ready to knock off the defending Champion.
In saying that, Francisco Cerundolo does hold a win over Alexander Zverev and he has beaten Tommy Paul twice, including in his run to the Fourth Round here. Those are solid results, but the biggest edge Cerundolo may have in this match is his fitness compared with Novak Djokovic who had an incredibly late finish to his Third Round win over Lorenzo Musetti.
Rain in Paris meant that match was not able to start until well after 10pm local time and it ended up being played until 3am on Saturday night/Sunday morning. This means very little recovery time for Novak Djokovic who is scheduled third on court on Monday, and that may be the factor that is the most telling on the day.
It has not been a memorable season for Novak Djokovic through to this point- he has yet to reach the Final of any event and some disappointing defeats in the build towards the French Open means he arrived with lower expectations than he usually places on himself. However, it will still take something special to beat him on this court and Lorenzo Musetti perhaps tightened up when things were going his way in the Third Round.
The Italian is a very competent clay courter, as is Francisco Cerundolo, but the flourish Novak Djokovic produced to that win on Saturday may just set him up to ride the momentum into the Quarter Final. A concern for the underdog in this match is that his serve can be really vulnerable at times and Novak Djokovic may end up moving through the gears and keeping Francisco Cerundolo under the cosh in this big match.
Novak Djokovic does feel a little more vulnerable anyway these days and the late finish to the Third Round is likely to have an impact, but we may not see that immediately and the World Number 1 can produce a solid win.
Casper Ruud - 1.5 sets v Taylor Fritz: There are going to be tough moments through the two weeks of any Grand Slam and both of these players have had to win a match in five sets.
Winning is the important factor though and both Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud have found a way through to the second week.
Out of the two players, Casper Ruud has shown a much more affinity with the red dirt, but ruling out Taylor Fritz completely would be a mistake.
In the lead up to the French Open, Taylor Fritz reached the Semi Final in Madrid, the Quarter Final in Rome and also reached the Final in Munich. He has won a few matches against some of the other players that have moved into the second week in Paris, which underlines their quality, while a strong serve has been rewarded with enough cheap points throughout the time on the clay.
He will need more of the same in this Fourth Round match against a player who is looking to reach the French Open Final for a third year in a row.
Casper Ruud has long been one of the stronger players on the surface and he has shown a bit more quality in his return game compared with Taylor Fritz. However, the key for Ruud is that he is a pretty good server on the surface too and he may believe he can get on top of this match as long as he matches the kind of serving that he has produced during this clay court season.
These two players met at the World Tour Finals in November 2022 and Casper Ruud came through a tough three setter, but that was also on an indoor hard court that theoretically should have favoured Taylor Fritz.
This time it is Ruud who should be comfortable in the conditions and he can win this match, most likely in four sets.
MY PICKS: Mirra Andreeva - 4.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)
Novak Djokovic - 6.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Casper Ruud - 1.5 Sets @ 1.72 Bet Fred (2 Units)
French Open Update: 12-4, + 10.78 Units (32 Units Staked, + 33.69% Yield)
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