British players have made history at the French Open, with six of them winning in the first round on the Paris clay for the first time since 1973, but No.1s Jack Draper and Katie Boulter appear to be heading for vastly different results in the second round.
In the men’s draw, Gael Monfils is a decent clay-court player and will be roared on by a partisan home crowd at Roland Garros but the 38-year-old Parisienne and 2008 semi-finalist will be no match for Draper, who should advance to the next phase with minimal fuss.
Monfils, who won a five-set epic in the opening round, has not reached the latter stages at any of his jaunts into this year’s clay-court campaign while Britain’s Madrid Open finalist has been getting better and better on this surface.
Despite dropping the opening set to fast-starting Mattia Bellucci in his opening match, Draper was a highly convincing 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 winner.
Incredibly for the man seeded fifth, it was his first win on the Paris clay, with just two first-round exits to his name heading into the year’s second grand slam.
Draper is 5/4 with bet365 and Bet Victor to win in straight sets and evens with the same firm, Ladbrokes, Coral and BoyleSports to triumph by more than 6.5 games in their handicap markets.
Meanwhile, Boulter did well to fight back after losing the first set in her opening match in the French capital to make progress against Carole Monnet, but her reward is a tough assignment against 2018 semi-finalist and world No.8 Madison Keys.
This has been a season of real progress for Boulter who, like Draper, had never won a French Open match before. Indeed she had never won a WTA match on the red stuff until Madrid this year.
She has even gone on to win her first clay title in the build-up to Roland Garros, going all the way at the WTA 125 Trophee Clarins in Paris, earning the tongue-in-cheek nickname Clay-tie Boulter.
It remains her least favoured surface, however, and she will have her work cut out against Australian Open champion Keys, who has previously reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals in Paris.
The American is no better than 8/15 with William Hill and bet365 to win in straight sets and the better option is for her to enjoy a relatively relaxed victory by more than 5.5 games at 19/20 with BetMGM and Unibet.
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