On day 3 of the French Open, I’m targeting two particular matchups — one featuring two Aussies and another consisting of two Frenchmen.
Dive in below and get your top French Open picks for Tuesday's matches, featuring Gasquet vs Rinderknech and Thompson vs Purcell.
Match times are subject to change. Read here for advice on viewing French Open matches.
French Open Odds & Picks
Richard Gasquet (-140) vs Arthur Rinderknech (+115)
9:30 a.m. ET
Gasquet faces off against fellow Frenchman Rinderknech for the first time in his career on Tuesday.
While it’s tough to judge how a particular matchup will play out in the first meeting, Gasquet has multiple advantages.
First, he’s much more battle-tested at Roland Garros. The 36-year old has been playing in this tournament since 2002, including a quarterfinal appearance in 2016.
Meanwhile, Rinderknech has yet to win a match at this major, getting blown out by Alexander Bublik and Marin Cilic the last two years and losing in four sets to Aljaz Bedene in 2020.
While Rinderknech has a higher Elo Rating on clay than Gasquet at this moment, he’s lost five of his last six matches on the surface.
Gasquet hasn’t been much better — with losses to Mikael Ymer, Yibing Wu, Damir Dzumhur and Alexandre Muller — but he did play Hubert Hurkacz tight in Madrid.
The veteran has also been much better than Rinderknech this season, overall; he won a title in Auckland to start the new campaign and beat No. 16-ranked Pablo Carreno Busta in Rotterdam.
Rinderknech has just a 4-9 ATP main draw record in 2023, with his best win coming against Francisco Cerundolo on a hard court at the United Cup. It’s remarkable how far he's dropped off form wise since an impressive indoor hard court season to end 2022.
I worry about Gasquet’s fitness — or really any player’s fitness at his age — but his combination of grit, experience and history at Roland Garros has me favoring him in this position. The medium-slow courts have always been favorable to Gasquet's one-handed backhand, and I expect that to be the case again in this one.
One other note – Gasquet is 18-4 over his last 52 weeks after winning the opening set. If he gets off to a quick start and is able to muster a break early against Rinderknech’s powerful serve, the veteran Frenchman could be well on his way to big win.
Pick: Gasquet ML (-140 via DraftKings)
Jordan Thompson (-130) vs Max Purcell (+105)
5 a.m. ET
Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell face off in a battle between Australians who haven’t had much success on the dirt in their careers.
Thompson has more experience than Purcell — given his age — but he’s only 11-24 in ATP-level clay court matches.
Meanwhile, Purcell is just 1-2, with both of those losses coming this year against No. 240-ranked Pablo Llamas Ruiz last week in Lyon and Tomas Martin Etcheverry in Houston in April.
Regardless, this should be an evenly-played match that could go a full five sets, especially based on how both have competed this year on the Challenger Tour.
Thompson is coming off a title in South Korea, where he beat Purcell in the final in straight sets. He also won a Challenger title in Rome earlier this season.
On the flip side, Purcell has reached six Challenger Tour titles, including three straight championships in February.
The two have met four times total, with Thompson winning three, including one meeting on clay back in 2019.
But they have never met in a major and they have only faced off once at the ATP level, a match Purcell won in straight sets in 2021.
Based on both players’ form and shaky play on this particular surface, I expect a gritty, ugly duel between these two. It’s a toss up as to who wins; however, I’m eyeing the over.
