French Open day nine predictions & tennis betting tips
Where to watch
Live on Eurosport from 10am Monday
Best bets
Iga Swiatek to win & under 16.5 games v Lesia Tsurenko
2pts 8-11 bet365
Over 36.5 games in Grigor Dimitrov v Alexander Zverev
2pts 8-11 Coral, Ladbrokes
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French Open day nine preview
The quarter-final schedule will be confirmed following the close of Monday’s play and women’s world number one Iga Swiatek is expected to be involved as she chases a third French Open title in the last four years.
The Polish phenomenon has barely broken sweat in her title defence, winning four of the six sets she has contested 6-0, and that may only spell trouble for last-16 opponent Lesia Tsurenko.
American ace Coco Gauff, who was Swiatek’s final victim last year, and seventh seed Ons Jabeur may also be banking on sealing a last-eight berth in routine fashion.
However, the seeded stars in the bottom half of the men’s draw will have to be on their guard as Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev all face tricky last-16 ties.
Danish delight Rune tackles the talented Francisco Cerundolo, last year’s runner-up Ruud meets clay-loving Chilean Nicolas Jarry while two-time French Open semi-finalist Zverev is set for a battle with the rejuvenated Grigor Dimitrov.
Iga Swiatek v Lesia Tsurenko predictions
As tends to be the case at Roland Garros, Swiatek has been in irresistible touch and her confidence should be sky-high after she double-bageled Wang Xinyu in round three.
The Pole took just 52 minutes to dispose of her Chinese challenger, and that victory followed a brace of 6-4 6-0 wins over Cristina Bucsa and Claire Liu.
Lesia Tsurenko has impressed in triumphs over 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, Lauren Davis and Bianca Andreescu and in theory this should be a tougher match for the defending champion.
But Swiatek looks in devastating nick and both previous meetings with Tsurenko suggest this could be another compelling success.
The Warsaw women outclassed Tsurenko 6-2 6-0 in Rome, also on clay, in the middle of May and won by that exact scoreline when swatting aside the Ukrainian in the opening round of last year’s French Open.
Players tend to throw in the towel when losing the opening set to Swiatek, whose opening three wins in Paris have featured just 16, 16 and 12 games.
Grigor Dimitrov v Alexander Zverev predictions
After being forced to retire from a delicately-posed French Open semi-final with Rafael Nadal last year, Zverev will be determined to conquer those demons and give himself another chance to make a Roland Garros title decider.
Zverev has worked wonders to recover so quickly from ankle ligament damage which required surgery and is certainly on the way back to his brilliant best.
However, his four-set win over Frances Tiafoe in round three highlighted some battle scars and on a number of occasions, he went passive on crucial points.
Zverev’s power-packed serve will always ensure he remains competitive however poorly he plays, while his star quality enables him to win points in the blink of an eye.
But the German is not yet operating at the peak of his powers, which gives the in-form Dimitrov every chance of progressing.
The Bulgarian bounced back to form in style when finishing runner-up to Jarry in Geneva and has built on that with straight-sets wins over Timofey Skatov, Emil Ruusuvori and Daniel Altmaier.
So with Dimitrov in decent form, this contest could be an epic and backing over 36.5 games looks the approach to take, especially given both players have won a set in three of the past four meetings between the two.
Zverev’s recent tussle with Tiafoe was his second straight match in Paris to feature two tiebreaks and that win over the American lasted 42 games, suggesting he may have to dig deep against Dimitrov too.
