French Open in Paris, 1st round, Tuesday, 27 May 2025, 2:30 p.m.
Advancing far as a qualifier is something that a few qualifiers manage to do at the major Grand Slam tournaments. It may be a bit presumptuous for Maximilian Marterer to aim for the quarterfinals at the French Open in 2025, but after surviving the qualifiers, the initial pressure is off.
His opponent in the first round comes from Australia and is considered the underdog by the bookmakers. What are the chances of a German victory and why am I predicting at least four sets? I’ll reveal all in my Marterer Walton tip!
Anyone ranked outside the top 200 in the world rankings has to go through qualifying, and Maximilian Marterer was well aware of that before traveling to Paris. The 29-year-old mastered the nerve-wracking extra round with flying colors.
He defeated Edas Butvilas (6-3, 7-6), Federico Coria (5-1, opponent retired) and Federico Arnaboldi (6-4, 6-1). Impressive: Marterer only allowed two breaks against him in total.
At the same time, his own break point conversion rate was just over 50 percent. At the Australian Open, the German had failed to get past the first round of qualifying, but now he has made it into the main draw.
It has been seven years since Marterer caused a sensation in Paris. He won three matches in a row before facing Grand Master Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. That was the end of the road, but the underdog still sold himself dearly, losing 3-6, 2-6, 6-7.
Last year, the Nuremberg native also managed to get past the opening hurdle, starting with a victory over Jordan Thompson. A good omen? After all, he is now starting with a match against an opponent from Down Under.
It was not necessarily foreseeable that Marterer would even make it to the main draw. At the beginning of February, the Franconian native was forced to take a break and is only now returning to the court in Paris.
Marterer will face his opponent in round 1, Adam Walton, for the first time in his career. One thing he can be sure of: the bookmakers are on his side. The odds are 1.25 to 3.60 on average.
Interestingly, even a straight-sets victory for the German is priced at 2.65 by Oddset. Adam Walton has exactly one Grand Slam win to his name, so Tuesday could be a real first for him.
The Australian prepared for the French Open in Asia. Reaching the final in Busan was a credit to him, but he only added two more wins in the following tournaments.
He had to retire from the Challenger in Wuxi, so it’s not entirely clear how fit he is. I haven’t seen any surprisingly strong results this year, and Walton’s big-name opponents are a cut above him.
Well, it’s debatable whether Marterer can be considered a big-name opponent. In any case, I noticed in Walton’s recent appearances that he’s not the strongest when it comes to serving.
Only just over half of his first serves made it over the net in Guangzhou, and he also recorded nine double faults in two matches. Marterer can also hope that Walton will be a little nervous on Tuesday.
My Marterer Walton tip
Can the German tennis players impress at this French Open? Maximilian Marterer has mastered the qualifiers with flying colors after a long injury break and can therefore go into the main round with confidence.
He is the favorite against Adam Walton – both with the bookmakers and in my opinion. However, as the Nuremberg native still lacks competitive practice, I don’t think he will get through completely without a hitch. Therefore, my prediction is:
We’ll see more than three sets!
