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Marco Cecchinato should cruise past Copil on clay

Pera can expose Vesnina's clay limitation

Marco Cecchinato of Italy in action against David Goffin
Marco Cecchinato of Italy in action against David GoffinCredit: Julian Finney

Eurosport & ITV4, 10am Monday

Cecchinato v Copil
Marco Cecchinato has never made it to the second round of a Grand Slam event but the Italian won the ATP Hungarian Open at the beginning of the European clay-court season and he has an excellent chance of advancing at Roland Garros.

He takes on limited Romanian Marius Copil, who is yet to win a main-draw match on clay this season and has a similarly poor record in big events, having won just a single Slam match in seven attempts.

In addition to his Budapest heroics, Cecchinato has also defeated clay specialists Fabio Fognini and Pablo Cuevas this term and he should get the better of a lesser rival.

The Italian could win easily and the best bet could be to back him giving up 4.5 games.

Recommendations
M Cecchinato -4.5 games
2pts 10-11 general

J Munar v D Ferrer
An all-Spanish affair pits veteran David Ferrer against young challenger Jaume Munar and there could be value in siding with the 21-year-old qualifier.

Munar, a graduate of the Rafael Nadal Academy, has been steadily improving this season and came through a tough section where he beat Tim Smyczek, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Duck-Hee Lee to advance to his first French Open main draw.

The Barcelona native is typically adept on clay and has fond memories of Roland Garros having won the French Open junior title there in 2014 and also the junior doubles crown a year later.

Ferrer was a class act but the 36-year-old is far from the force of old and recent results suggest that a best-of-five sets win may prove difficult.

Recommendation
J Munar

1pt 15-8 BoyleSports

Pera v Vesnina
Bernarda Pera reached the third round of the Australian Open on her first foray into Grand Slam tennis and the American has a great chance of getting the better of Elena Vesnina.

Pera participated in six ITF finals on clay last season, so she's no stranger to the surface. Including qualifying she won four matches at the Madrid Open including a straight-sets victory over British number one Johanna Konta before she gave home favourite Carla Suarez Navarro a fright.

Vesnina is a tough opening opponent but the Russian is a better player on faster courts, often struggling to generate power in slower conditions, and she looks vulnerable against the improving 23-year-old.

Recommendation
B Pera
2pts Evs Betfair, Hills, Paddy Power

Other matches
Rafael Nadal begins his pursuit of an 11th French Open title on Philippe Chatrier when he takes on lucky loser Simone Bolelli in a repeat of their 2012 first-round match which the Majorcan won in straight sets.

Novak Djokovic is also in action. The Serb faces Brazilian qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva and is 1-16 to progress while Dominic Thiem meets Belarus's Ilya Ivashka.

One man who won't feature is Nick Kyrgios after the Australian withdrew from the tournament before his opening match against compatriot Bernard Tomic with a long-standing elbow problem.

Madrid champion Petra Kvitova, world number two Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Sharapova are the star attractions on day two in the women's draw.


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