The French Open men’s tournament continues with more first-round action in Paris and so do our tennis picks. Rain has delayed the schedule on each of the first two days, but Sunday featured the longer delays, and Sunday’s schedule was not as crowded as Monday’s order of play. We mostly saw by-the-book results on Monday with few upsets. Stan Wawrinka gave quite a scare as he needed the full five sets to take care of Lukas Rosol. It would have been quite a shock to see the 2015 French Open champion go out so soon. We also saw Milos Raonic beat Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets, Gilles Simon beat Rogerio Dutra Silva in straight sets and Kei Nishikori topped Simone Bolelli in straight sets. A couple of the notable upsets of the day were Marin Cilic’s upsets at the hands of Marco Trungelliti and Sam Querrey’s loss to Bjorn Fratangelo.
Looking ahead to Tuesday, the tournament is almost caught up, but not quite. These are all originally scheduled matches for Tuesday.
Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
There is always the chance that Tsonga, a volatile player, can fly off the handle and completely lose focus. However, his opponent has to be good enough to beat him, and it’s highly doubtful that Struff has the stuff needed to pull off the upset. In the first round, 128 players compete at the French Open, as is the case for the other three Grand Slam events of the year. With a field that large, you’re going to run into a number of very obscure players who are rarely seen at the Masters 1000 tournaments and make very few appearances at any main-draw matches on tour. These players spend much of the year either in the qualifying rounds for main-tour events, or in the challengers, or both. Struff is one such player. He has only two-main draw tour wins this year, and he’s qualified for the main draw in only five events, only one of them at the Masters 1000 level and only one at the ATP 500 level. He is a player who lives on the edge of the tour, while Tsonga – a semifinalist last year in Paris – is a comfortable resident of the top 10. There’s simply no comparison in a situation such as this one. Tsonga is the obvious pick – he should win even if he’s below his best. Go with him for your tennis picks.
Pick: Tsonga in straight sets
David Ferrer vs. Evgeny Donskoy
This should be at least slightly interesting, if only because Ferrer has had such a lousy season and seems to have very little left in his career. Ferrer played extremely well into his early 30s, but as he moves toward his mid-30s, all the work he did can no longer carry him. Ferrer achieved all that he achieved in tennis because of his relentless defense and court coverage. He wore down opponents and stayed in rallies long enough to make the other guy miss. Ferrer can’t do that as easily as he once did. Older players need to be able to hit more winners so that they can end points more quickly. Ferrer is not in position to do that against elite players. This match is something he should be able to handle, but he might give up a set and provide some drama. Take him with your tennis picks.
Pick: Ferrer in four sets
David Goffin vs. Gregoire Barrere
This is a matchup in which Barrere is one of those other barely-known players on tour. He is ranked outside the top 225 players on tour. He has not played a main-draw ATP match this year, sticking to the challengers and the (non-Grand Slam) ITF circuit. This is a huge step up in weight class for Barrere. Don’t expect him to be able to do much with Goffin, a top-20 player who has been very solid the past 12 months. Take Goffin with your tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Goffin in straight sets
