Ricky Dimon
The stars will come out on a busy day at the French Open, as both the top and bottom halves of the men’s and single’s women’s draws will be in action on Monday. Among those taking the court are Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek, Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka.
I’m off to a 2-1 start through the first day of competition. Let’s keep the momentum going and take a look at the best bets to be made on the Day 2 schedule.
Parlay: Karen Khachanov -1.5 sets over Aleksandar Vukic and Arthur Fils -1.5 sets over Nicolas Jarry (-130)
A matchup between Khachanov and Vukic could be competitive on a different surface…and in a different year. Clay and 2025, however, is not a good combination for Vukic. The Australian is 8-16 overall this year, including 4-7 on what has always been his worst surface. He has compiled losing records on dirt in 4 of the last 5 seasons (this one included). As for Khachanov, he played very well at the recent Rome Masters — advancing 2 rounds before losing to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in a 3-set thriller. Meanwhile, Jarry has fallen off a cliff to #150 in the rankings with a 7-12 record in 2025. Even on clay, his favorite surface, he is a dreadful 5-10. Fils, by contrast, is in awesome form. The Frenchman, who will benefit from home-court advantage on Monday, reached the Monte-Carlo quarterfinals, the Barcelona semifinals and the Rome fourth round.
Parlay: Jaqueline Adina Cristian ML over Kimberly Birrell and Maya Joint ML over Ajla Tomljanovic (-105)
Cristian just finished runner-up at a clay-court tournament in Rabat on Saturday. The Romanian owns a 7-4 record on clay this season, whereas Birrell is 1-4. Birrell is arguably at her worst on clay, too, so this feels like a mismatch. The same can be said of Joint vs Tomljanovic. Joint is simply playing awesome tennis these days. The 19-year-old is 30-13 in 2025, including 10-3 on clay. Guess who beat Cristian in the Rabat final. That’s right; Joint. In that event the Australian faced her compatriot Tomljanovic in the semis and led 6-4 before the veteran retired due to injury. That doesn’t inspire any confidence in Tomljanovic moving forward.
Maria Camila Osorio Serrano -1.5 sets over Arantxa Rus (+100)
Osorio Serrano comes in with a #55 ranking and is sporting a 9-4 record on clay this season. She has always been stellar on clay, so it’s no surprise that she reached the Rabat semifinals this past week (lost to Cristian in a tight 3-setter). The story is much worse for Rus, who is 34 years old and down at #99 in the rankings. The Dutchwoman hasn’t been winning many — or any — matches except against much lower-ranked opponents. In Rabat she lost to Maria Mateas 6-4, 6-2 just a day before Osorio Serrano crushed Mateas 6-3, 6-1. Rus is an automatic fade on any surface other than clay, and even on clay she is pretty close to auto fade.
