French Open Options

With the French Open entering the third round today, the big hitters in the men’s singles are still going strong with Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray all progressing from the second round,

Murray managed to comprehensively see off Jarkko Nieminen, despite losing the first set due to a back injury that Murray himself thought was about to end his tournament.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the Women’s singles, both Serena and Venus Williams have bowed out early, Serena was beaten by two sets to one by Virginie Razzano in the first round.

Venus managed to navigate the first round but was then convincingly beaten 6-2 6-3 by Agnieszka Radwanska

Now the Williams sisters are on their way home and the field has opened up a bit, now may be the opportune time for a cheeky punt and our recommendations are:

Agnieszka Radwanska 12/1

The current world number three has made considerable strides with in her development in the last six months, picking up a quarter final finish at the Australian open along the way.

Managing to break in to the top three guarantees that Radwanska will not meet her arch nemesis Victoria Azarenka until the semi-final stage, having been beaten in all six of their previous meetings, if she can break that chain then she definitely stands a very good chance of picking up her first Grand Glam title

Sam Stosur 9/1

Stosur stands at number six in the rankings but this by no means implies she will be another also ran in this year’s tournament, she showed signs of greatness at Roland Garros in 2010, eventually losing out to Francesca Schiavone in the final.

Since then Stosur demonstrated that reaching the final was no fluke, picking up the U.S Open title last year with an emphatic victory over Serena Williams, at the same time establishing herself as a master of the clay court.

Although the top four seeds are still in the mix for the mens singles title, that doesn’t mean the tournament is all but over for the other contenders, there are plenty of players capable of causing an upset and with the domination of the Djokovic and his pals; this only makes their odds that little bit more appealing.

Tomas Berdych 28/1

Berdych has troubled the top seeds in the past, in 2010 the Czech reach the semi-final of this very tournament leaving Andy Murray in his wake, following that up by finishing worthy runner up at Wimbledon, brushing aside another top seed in Roger Federer.

The year so far has shown a lot of promise, with strong performances against Djokovic and Federer unfortunately ending in a loss; Berdych will have found the inspiring confidence that may need to be called upon in the later stages, by beating Murray again in Dubai.

Juan Martin Del Potro 50/1

The 23 year old Argentine had an amazing 2009 culminating in victory at the U.S Open over Roger Federer.

Since then his form dipped following a serious injury to his wrist that kept him out of the final three majors in 2010, but this year he has shown he is back on the right track with a quarter final finish in the Australian Open and is definitely worthy of an outside bet.