WILL EVANS’ daily preview serves up French Open tips for Alexei Popyrin’s mountainous first-round assignment against the great Rafael Nadal.
French Open Tips – Rafael Nadal V Alexei Popyrin
00:00 (AEST), Wed 2nd Jun @ Roland Garros, Paris
History: Played 1: Nadal 1 V Popyrin 0
Last meeting: Madrid Masters, 2021 (R16): Nadal d Popyrin 6-3 6-3
Final Thoughts: Aussie upstart Alexei Popyrin has drawn the French Open’s shortest straw, facing the greatest clay-court player of all time in the opening round.
Rafael Nadal has won the French Open 13 times – including the last four years straight. Meanwhile, he has lost in the first round just twice in 61 Grand Slam appearances.
The 34-year-old has also been in vintage forming leading into another Roland Garros campaign. He won the Barcelona Open and Rome Masters, beating fellow big guns Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic in the respective finals.
Nadal and Popyrin met for the first time just a few weeks ago. Nadal powered past Popyrin 6-3 6-3, though the youngster chalked up eight aces and won 83 percent of his first-serve points.
It was a confidence-boosting tournament for Popyrin. The 21-year-old beat Jan-Lennard Struff and 14th seed Jannik Sinner before meeting Nadal in the Round of 16.
Popyrin also had a good win over Pablo Andujar (who upset Dominic Thiem in the first round of the French Open) at the Monte Carlo Masters. But he lost in Rome Masters qualifying.
The world No.61 has an impressive 6-2 record in Grand Slam first-round matches. He upset Ugo Humbert first up at the 2019 French Open but went down to Lloyd Harris in straight sets in the first round last year.
Popyrin has just one previous win over a player who was then ranked in the top 10 – against Thiem at the 2019 Australian Open.
Nadal won’t be dumped out here, but he may not have it all his own way. Popyrin is a quality player and will take some heart from his last meeting against Rafa, who is likely to ease into his work in Paris. Nadal won two of his last three French Open first-round matches by margins of less than nine games. Popyrin looks a great price with a similar start.
Tip: Games Handicap – Popyrin +8.5 @ $3.29
FRENCH OPEN TIPS |
||
| MATCH-UP | ||
| Salvatore Caruso V James Duckworth | Games Handicap – Duckworth +6.5 @ $1.78 | |
| Jan-Lennard Struff V Andrey Rublev | Games Handicap – Rublev -7.5 @ $1.85 | |
| Andreas Seppi V Felix Auger Aliassime | Total Games – Over 30.5 @ $1.90 | |