French Open Day 7 (Sat)
- Dave Pilgrim
- May 31, 2019
- 2 min read
Italian Fabio Fognini is an absolute clay court animal. He has played 629 matches on the surface at the last count - which is 65% of his career total, and he has an impressive 401-228 record on the surface - 64%. Nevertheless, his French Open record is poor. He's only been past the third round once in his career, which really makes no sense. His temperament often getting the better of him.

He takes on Roberto Bautista Agut on Friday, a man who has been to the fourth round twice in the last three years here. He does has a poor record against Fognini though, which could be the crucial factor. Fognini has won seven of the ten meetings between the men, including three from four on clay. Having won the Monte Carlo Masters was also a key confidence boosting win for Fognini in April.
Looking at their 2018-19 numbers against top 50 players, Fognini has won 14 of his 23 matches on clay (14-9), winning 60.7% of service points and 40.6% of receiving points (a combined 101.3%)
Bautista Agut has won just four of 13 matches (4-9), winning 60.1% of service points but just 36.8% of receiving points (combined 96.9%). Those stats are enough to persuade us to back Fognini at 4/5 with Betway or William Hill.
2.5pts Fognini to beat Bautista Agut at 4/5 (General)
We'll also have a little dabble on World No.5 Alexander Zverev winning comfortably against Dusan Lajovic, This is the second year the pair have met on the Roland Garros courts, and while it took five sets to split them the last time, this one could be over more quickly.
Again, this is a match which is all about the return. Both men have very similar service stats - against Top 50 players on clay, Zverev has won 62.5% of service points over the past two seasons, while Lajovic has won 62.3%. On return however, Zverev extends to 40.7% of points (combining for a 103.2% of points) while Lajovic has won just 35.9% (combining for 98.2%). That difference has seen Zverez record a 15-8 winning record, while Lajovic is just 7-12.
Zverev should have too much for Lajovic here, and the 6/4 available on him winning 3-0 looks too good to turn down here.
1pt Zverev to beat Lajovic 3-0 at 6/4 (General)






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