This article is part of our Tennis Picks series.
The second round of the French Open continues Thursday. After rain washed away play on the outside courts Wednesday, tournament organizers will be fighting an uphill battle to keep the tournament on schedule and wrap up the second round Thursday as planned. Two French players in different stages of their respective careers will be looking to thrill the partisan Parisian crowd with upset victories, while a clay-court specialist on the men's side and a teenage talent on the women's side offer appealing value.
All Tennis Odds & Lines are taken from DraftKings Sportsbook, but you can sometimes find more favorable odds on some of these matches by checking mobile sportsbooks such as FanDuel Sportsbook, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, or any of the other best sports betting sites. We offer exclusive sign-up bonuses for some of those sportsbooks in states where sports betting has gone live.
All men's singles matches at Grand Slams such as the French Open are best of five sets, while women's singles matches are best of three sets. A mix of players' previous clay court results, recent form and stylistic matchups can help pinpoint intriguing betting opportunities, both among favorites likely to cruise to victory and underdogs ready to pull off upsets. The aforementioned underdogs are highlighted in the Upset Alert section, the Lock It In section covers players who can safely be viewed as overwhelming favorites, while the Value Bets section recommends enticing options in matchups that are considered closer to toss-ups.
French Open Picks: Upset Alert
Diane Parry (+220) vs. Elina Svitolina
Parry is probably France's top hope for major success in women's tennis over the next few years. The 21-year-old is already the third-ranked Frenchwoman at No. 63, and she was the world's top-ranked junior in 2019. Parry has been to the third round of every Grand Slam except for the US Open, and she's looking to reach that stage for the second time in as many 2024 Grand Slam events. Svitolina just beat Parry 6-3, 6-4 in Strasbourg on May 20, but the pressure will be ratcheted up on the No. 15 seed in this environment, while Parry will have plenty of energy to feed off from the French crowd. Svitolina looked vulnerable in the first round here, beating Karolina Pliskova 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, and she struggled to a 4-6 record in her last 10 matches prior to the French Open.
Gael Monfils (+170) vs. Lorenzo Musetti
While his wife Svitolina is in danger of being upset, Monfils will be looking to be the one who pulls off the upset in his match. This could be the final French Open for the 37-year-old Frenchman, so Monfils will leave it all on the court. The showman still has the ability to produce exceptional shots with remarkable frequency and can still cover the court incredibly well. The crowd will be oohing and ahhing in this matchup since Musetti's also one of the premier shotmakers on the ATP Tour, but this match feels closer to a toss-up than one in which one player should be clearly favored. Monfils already showed that he's in strong form by getting past a tough first-round opponent in Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Musetti has struggled to a 10-14 ATP Tour-level record in 2024.
Honorable Mention
Cristina Bucsa (+175) vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
French Open Odds: Lock It In
Alex de Minaur (-285) vs. Jaume Munar
Few players looked better in the first round than the 11th-seeded de Minaur, who decimated Alex Michelsen 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 less than a week after Michelsen beat Taylor Fritz in Geneva. The Australian speedster has a solid all-court game, so his 4-7 career French Open record is surprisingly poor. De Minaur is enjoying a breakout in 2024, though, with nine top-20 wins among his 26-10 record. It would be fitting for de Minaur to put together his best French Open run to date this year, and he should take care of business against the 64th-ranked Munar. De Minaur has won both of their previous encounters, including one on clay.
Jan-Lennard Struff (-350) vs. Alexander Bublik
Struff is ranked 24 spots behind Bublik at No. 41, but those rankings would be reversed and then some if all ATP events were played on clay. Struff reached a clay-court Masters 1000 final in Madrid last year and is 10-3 on clay in 2024, while the big-serving Bublik is far more comfortable on faster surfaces. Bublik has publicly proclaimed his disdain for clay-court tennis on numerous occasions over the years, and his 5-4 record on the surface in 2024 is actually a significant step up from his career 21-30 mark. This is Bublik's sixth French Open appearance, and he has yet to advance past the second round.
Honorable Mention
Elise Mertens (-280) vs. Petra Martic
French Open Predictions: Value Bets
Linda Noskova (-150) vs. Irina-Camelia Begu
Noskova showed off her massive upside at the Australian Open, where she beat world No. 1 Iga Swiatek en route to a quarterfinal showing. Still just 19 years old, Noskova has already climbed to No. 29 in the rankings. Her WTA Tour-level clay-court experience is limited, but Noskova has demonstrated proficiency on this surface with two ITF-level clay-court titles in her young professional career. Begu's past her prime at age 33, and Noskova has already been farther in a Grand Slam than the 127th-ranked Romanian, who hasn't been past the Round of 16 in any of her previous 47 major main draws. Prior to her first-round win over 115th-ranked Julia Riera, Begu was 3-7 in her previous 10 matches against opponents ranked in the top 130, with one of the wins coming via retirement and six of the seven losses coming in straight sets.
Yulia Putintseva (+120) vs. Paula Badosa
Putintseva maintained her red-hot form in the first round, beating Sloane Stephens 6-1, 6-2. Considering Putintseva reached WTA-1000 level quarterfinals in both Miami and Madrid over the last couple months, it's surprising she isn't favored here against Badosa, who has slipped to 100 spots behind Putintseva at No. 139. Back injuries have depleted Badosa's game, and the Spaniard is just 10-10 in 2024, so she's a shadow of the player that reached No. 2 in the rankings in 2022.
Honorable Mention
Tallon Griekspoor (+115) vs. Luciano Darderi
