Top 5 First Round Matches at the 2022 French Open

The 2022 French Open starts on Sunday from Roland Garros. Here are the top five first round matches for tennis’s second major of the year. Betting odds courtesy of betonline.ag.

5) (8) Casper Ruud–Norway vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga–France

In what could be Tsonga’s final match of his career, he will be up against the eighth seed, Casper Ruud of Norway (-3850). Tsonga (+1350) has already stated the French Open will be his last tournament before retirement at age 37. The 18-time ATP champion was ranked as high as fifth in the world, and reached the 2008 Australian Open final. Ruud is coming off a title win at the Geneva Open, where he beat Joao Sousa of Portugal in the final, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. This will be their first (and last) career meeting.

4) (17) Reilly Opelka–United States vs. Fillip Krajinovic–Serbia

An upset is a strong possibility here even though Opelka (-135) is the favourite. Opelka’s best surface is clearly hard court, while Krajinovic (+115) just reached the third round of the Italian Open where he beat American Frances Tiafoe of the United States 7-6, 7-6, in the first round and world number seven Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-2, 6-4 in the second round.

3) (4) Stefanos Tsitsipas–Greece vs. Lorenzo Musetti–Italy

At first glance, Tsitsipas (-970) is the big name player and has had great clay court success in the past after reaching the 2021 French Open final, and a tournament win in Monte Carlo. He could face a challenge from Musetti (+360), who reached the third round of Monte Carlo (beat Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada), third round of Barcelona (beat Daniel Evans of Great Britain) and third round of Madrid (beat Sebastian Korda of the United States).

2) (30) Tommy Paul–United States vs. Cristian Garin–Chile

When it comes to world rankings, this match is extremely even on paper. Paul is 33rd in the world, and Garin is 36th. Garin (-125) is clearly the better clay court player compared to Paul (+105). Garin reached the fourth round of the 2021 French Open, and the quarterfinals of the Italian Open, where he beat 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the third round.

1) (27) Amanda Anisimova–United States vs. Naomi Osaka–Japan

Yes, Anisimova (-167) is the seeded player, but let’s not kid ourselves. Osaka (+147) will provide a formidable test as a four-time grand slam champion. One must realize that Anisimova, the 2019 French Open semifinalist, beat Osaka 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the third round of the 2022 Australian Open.