Wednesday’s French Open Betting Tips: Swiatek can come through heavyweight clash

Day four of the French Open should be a dramatic one with several seeded players coming up against former stars who can still get up for the big occasion.

Reigning champion Iga Swiatek faces four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka in one of the most attractive women’s matches while Gael Monfils could be up to his crowd-pleasing antics again when he takes on men’s number 30 seed Lorenzo Musetti.

Iga Swiatek -6.5 handicap v Naomi Osaka @ 5/6 

Swiatek hardly broke a sweat in her first-round matchup against Leolia Jeanjean, winning 6-1, 6-2 in 62 minutes.

That was her 13th consecutive win on clay and, in this kind of form, there seems to be little stopping her from going all the way again and winning her fourth French Open title.

Osaka will aim to throw a spanner in the works as she seeks her first win over the Pole in almost five years.

But the Japanese star is still catching up with her rivals after a long period off the court and is not quite as mobile or confident as she once was.

Swiatek, who won both the big warm-up tournament titles in Madrid in Rome recently, covered a 6.5 game handicap in nine of her 13 straight wins on the surface - which is her favourite.

And she can do the same against Osaka, who gave her opponent a few freebies as she tried to close out her first-round win, whether she wins this match in two sets or three.

Denis Shapovalov -3.5 handicap v Frances Tiafoe @ EVS

Canadian star Shapovalov began the tournament with a confident 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Luca Van Assche and will fancy his chances of following that up against America’s No.25 seed Frances Tiafoe.

Shapovalov has shown glimpses of his old form for several months now, but the former world number 10 finally looks ready to pull it all together at a major event.

His service rhythm seemed solid as eight aces, five double faults and 80% of points won on his first serve against Van Assche suggests.

Tiafoe, meanwhile, scraped past world number 173 Mattia Bellucci in five sets and still does not look to be in great shape.

The 26-year-old has also slipped outside the top 10 in the world in the past year and, after a dismal run this spring when he was able to win more than one match in only two tournaments, Tiafoe’s slide looks set to continue in Paris.

Sofia Kenin to beat Caroline Garcia @ 6/4

Sofia Kenin should go off at a tasty price to beat someone who she has never lost to before - Caroline Garcia - on Wednesday.

The 2020 French Open finalist has enjoyed much more success at Roland-Garros than the number 21 seed, who has repeatedly struggled to deal with the pressure of playing in front of her home crowd.

Kenin, who has a 73% win ratio at the French Open, was given a tough workout in the opening round by Laura Siegemund and the rain, which interrupted the match just when she was serving to level it at one set all.

She possesses enough power on her groundstrokes to match Garcia and with both players hitting very flat, the top of the net could be in for a peppering.

Whoever makes the fewest errors will go through, but nerves will also play a part and Garcia, who has won 57% of her matches at Roland-Garros and has failed to get past the second round in each of the last three years, could suffer again.