French Open in Paris, 2nd Round, Thursday, 01.06.2023
America’s number one has to play away in the 2nd round of the French Open. Thursday he will meet Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech.
In the first round, Fritz marched through his match more dominantly than anyone else. He is the favourite again on Thursday. I’ll reveal which bet is the best for this match in my Rinderknech – Fritz tip.
This year Fritz has discovered the red ash for himself. With ten matches won from 15 games, he currently offers the best win rate on clay since his professional career.
At the French Open, he started the tournament with a dominant 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 against compatriot Michael Mmoh. Anything other than a three-set win would have been a surprise, however.
Mmoh previously played his last match at the beginning of March and played his last match on the red clay exactly one year ago.
The surprise failed to materialise. Especially when the conditions are hot and dry, the ball flies fast, which suits the US American’s game.
The fast man from California is particularly dangerous because of his strong first serve, with which he repeatedly secures many quick game winners.
At the same time, he convinces with a strong forehand with which he fires his flat shots to the baseline again and again. In Monaco, he even upset Stefanos Tsitsipas and prevailed in two sets.
It was only against Andrey Rublev that he came to an end at the Masters. In Madrid, he surprisingly failed against Zhizhen Zhang, who won the tiebreak against Fritz twice after being down in the set.
In the rainy days of Rome, the 25-year-old struggled with damp, slower conditions and failed to beat a strong Yannick Hanfmann.
In his dress rehearsal in Geneva, he reached the semi-finals. As against Zhang, he lost the match against Grigor Dimitrov after leading the set.
However, it should not be that close against Arthur Rinderknech in round two. This is also the opinion of the oddsmakers, who give Fritz 1.10 as a clear favourite.
Bet365, for example, offers 7.00 odds on the Frenchman’s success. A practical feature of this betting provider is that all French Open matches are shown live in the stream.
Rinderknech prevailed against his compatriot Richard Gasquet after four sets. In the deciding set, he made it exciting again despite the double break and had to close the match via the tiebreak.
He served a total of twelve aces. However, he also made ten double faults in front of the raucous crowd at Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
It was a very break-filled match. Rinderknech made efficient use of eight of his ten chances, but also had to surrender seven of his service games.
Fritz should not offer him so many chances. Above all, he has to be careful not to offer the US American too many set pieces.
Even before the French Open, the world number 78 was shaky. In Lyon, he failed to beat Brandon Nakashima after beating Lloyd Harris. He has won just three of his last nine matches.
Overall, Fritz offers a more versatile and better game and is expected to keep Rinderknech in check throughout the match. Betano delivers a 1.72 for an outright 3-0 win.
If Rinderknech can get his first serve through regularly in a set, a tiebreak would also be realistic. For this, Betano would have a 1.93 on offer.
Conclusion: Fritz has made decisive steps forward on clay this year. Thursday it’s supposed to get up to 28 degrees Celsius in sunny conditions. Top conditions for the Californian.
Rinderknech has been too error-prone in recent months to pose a serious threat to Fritz. I only trust him to win a set if he can play six games without making any mistakes.
My tip: 3:0 Win Fritz
