Not long now until the Main Draw of Roland Garros 2023! The ATP and WTA tour is in other parts of France this week, with the men in Lyon and the women in Strasburg. Ace is here with his preview and Best Bets for a big night of tennis action!
Tennis Betting Tips – Tuesday, May 23rd 2023
ATP Lyon – Ruiz vs Purcell
This is a tricky spot for Australian Max Purcell, who is coming into this one off an exceptional run of form. For most of the recent grand slams, the Australian has needed to make his way through grand slam qualifying, however thanks to his efforts on the hardcourt to start 2023, largely at Challenger level, he currently sits at a career high ranking of 67. This opens some great possibilities the week before a grand slam, where tournament strength doesn’t quite match most weeks on the tour.
Unfortunately for Purcell, an ankle injury in the Busan Challenger final against Aleksandar Vukic leaves him with a major question mark in terms of his fitness. This is a free hit of sorts for Purcell, however with a nasty injury less than a fortnight ago, and the transition to clay, his least preferred surface, this looks to be a tough ask.
Pablo Llamas Ruiz looked solid through his two qualifying wins, and plays almost exclusively on the clay. This is a great opportunity for him as well, and when you look through his Challenger clay form, it takes a solid player to beat him on each occasion. He is 21-6 for the year on clay, and his losses have come to Laaksonen (in 3), Machac, JM Cerundolo, Gojo (in 3) , Martinez and Travaglia (Ruiz was backing up from an ITF title the previous week). I am more than comfortable making a play here in the Spanish world number 239 to put in a strong showing here over a player with fitness concerns and lesser form on the clay.
Ruiz -3.5 Games vs Purcell
$2 (1.5 Units)
WTA Strasbourg – Navarro vs Teichmann
Emma Navarro has done a terrific job at ITF level lately, boosting her ranking up into the Top 100 and locking herself in to the Roland Garros main draw. She started strongly in Strasbourg as well, defeating Martincova comfortably in straight sets. Although the US ITF run has been solid, when you look at the strength of the opposition and the conditions for many of those players, I’d be expecting her to win most of those matches, and some of them more comfortably than they eventuated.
Navarro comes into this match with Jil Teichmann with the odds for both players quite similar. Teichmann broke a losing streak with a round 1 win over Zanevska, who is a player for which I have a high opinion. I think the counterpunching nature of Teichmann is going to be a tough match-up for Navarro. Martincova went 0/6 on break point saves in the first round against Navarro, and I’d be surprised to see similar stat lines today from Teichmann. Happy to take the experienced counterpuncher in this one.
Teichmann to Defeat Navarro
$1.85 (1.25 Units)
