First round action at the 2020 French Open continues on Monday, September 27 and quite a few Frenchmen will take to court today. In this piece below we look at four of these matches and you can get the live streaming options and predictions for them. The matches include:
- Benoit Paire v Kwon Soon-woo
- Jeremy Chardy v Jurij Rodionov
- Sebastian Korda v Andreas Seppi
- Corentin Moutet v Lorenzo Giustino
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Benoit Paire v Kwon Soon-woo Preview
- Start Time (approx.): 3 pm local (2 pm BST or 9 am Eastern Time)
- Head to Head: 0-0
In what will be the first match between Frenchman Benoit Paire and the South Korean Kwon Soon-woo, they will face off in the opening round of the 2020 Frenchman.
Paire has had a wretched time in the recent past, struggling through a Covid-19 diagnosis, and losing all the matches he has played so far post the pandemic break.
He retired from his Cincinnati Open opener while he was trailing 6-0, 1-0 to Borna Coric, then returned to feature in Rome where he won just three games against Jannik Sinner before his second retirement of the season against Casper Ruud in Hamburg. The Frenchman has relatively easier first round match here but the big question is if he has recovered fully from his illness or the residual effects still remain.
On his part, Soon-woo is more of a hard court player, which can be seen from a stunning stat – across the different tiers of competitions, the Korean has played in a grand total of 12 matches on that surface!
At home on hard court surfaces, with quarterfinals this season at the Pune Open, New York Open, Delray Beach Open and in Acapulco, Soon-woo lost his opening qualifier at the Rome Masters. That was his only match on clay and despite being drawn against a player who is struggling on court, Soon-woo might not have the greatest chance to win this.
Prediction: Four sets in the match: 13/8 (bet365)
Jeremy Chardy v Jurij Rodionov Preview
- Start Time (approx.): 1 pm local (12 noon BST or 7 am Eastern Time)
- Head to Head: 0-0
It’s the world number 63 and Frenchman Jeremy Chardy taking on Austrian qualifier an 169th-ranked Jurij Rodinov in the first round of the French Open.
It’s a match between a player who is way past his best but fighting to remain in the top 100 and collect those direct entries into Grand Slams and a 21-year-old talent hoping to follow on the footsteps of his fellow countryman who just won the US Open title.
Chardy last missed a Grand Slam in 2011, which was his only such miss since the 2008 French Open. Incidentally, it was at that edition of the French Open, Chardy made it to the fourth round too, his best performance ever at Roland-Garros.
This season, however, Chardy has won just two main round matches and both came in January. Since then, a first round defeat at the Australian Open, and another opening loss at the US Open have been his only main draw appearances. Chardy tried to get through the qualifiers at Rome, his only showing on clay but lost in the second qualifier.
Rodionov won three successive matches including one against fellow Austrian Sebastian Offner to get to the main draw, thereby making his maiden appearance in a Grand Slam first round match. The Austrian has played quite a few of his matches on clay in the lead-up to the French Open, including Challengers and qualifiers of events like the Kitzbuhel Open, which should keep him in a good stead for this.
Chardy, however, should be able to use his experience to win this.
Prediction: Chardy to win: 10/11 (bet365)
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Sebastian Korda v Andreas Seppi Preview
- Start Time (approx.): 11 am local (10 am BST or 5 am Eastern Time)
- Head to Head: 0-0
Ranked 211th in the world, USA’s Sebastian Korda came through the qualifiers without dropping a set to seal his main draw berth. And he will be playing the experienced Italian and world number 97, Andreas Seppi in this opener.
Korda had earlier featured in the US Open, winning a wildcard but drawing Denis Shapovalov in the first round. That he managed to take a set off Shapovalov in that match would have made him proud and he would look to build on that. At least this time, he isn’t playing against someone of a similar pedigree as Shapovalov.
Seppi’s best performance at a Grand Slam is a fourth round appearance at three of the four majors, all bar US Open, he has a title on each of clay, grass and hard court surfaces and two lower-circuit tournament wins on clay.
In more recent times though, Seppi has struggled on red dirt with just three wins and 10 losses over the past two seasons. Up against a younger, and talented youngster, things might not look so comfortable as he would like.
Prediction: Korda to win: 4/9 (bet365)
Corentin Moutet v Lorenzo Giustino Preview
- Start Time (approx.): 6 pm local (5 pm BST or 12 noon Eastern Time)
- Head to Head: Moutet leads 1-0
World number 70 and France’s Corentin Moutet had played Lorenzo Giustino once at the Challenger level four years ago and won that match on indoor hard court. That said, Moutet loves his time on clay, having made it to the finals of 10 lower circuit competitions and winning six of them on that surface.
Moutet won a couple of qualifiers at the Rome Masters too but fell on the final hurdle when he lost to Alejandro Fokina but a third round appearance at the US Open before that would give him the confidence he needs coming into this.
Earlier this season, Moutet had also made it all the way through to the final of the Qatar Open which included wins over Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinka. Later on the clays of Cordoba, he reached the quarterfinal, pushing his ranking forward.
His opponent, Giustino needed three wins in the qualifying rounds including a last one against Dustin Brown to make it to the main draw. His maiden ATP main draw match had come in 2015, and with nine titles and 15 finals on clay under his belt – at Futures and Challengers obviously! – he could be the player to watch.
Just that in this match, Moutet should have a lot more ammo.
Prediction: Games Handicap Moutet -6.5: 1/1 (bet365)
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