Men's French Open Betting: Confident Kyrgios to make Raonic work hard in Paris

Breaks of serve may be at a premium in the Raonic match

The grand slam clay court action begins today in Paris and tennis expert Sean Calvert is back to select the best bets on day one of the French Open...

The French Open begins at 10am UK time on Sunday and day one of the main draw has 16 first round matches in the men's singles to consider today.

Roger Federer plays today, as does Tomas Berdych, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but early punters will look to the first match on Court Suzanne Lenglen for a bit of potential value.

Milos Raonic takes on young Aussie Nick Kyrgios, who caused a stir here last year by beating Radek Stepanek in three tie breaks at a big price - the biggest odds of all the round one winners 12 months ago.

This time around Kyrgios faces Raonic and although I would expect Milos to come through it may not be as comfortable as the 1.11/10 about the big man would suggest.

Kyrgios has the kind of personality that doesn't get overawed by taking on the big names of the game and he'll be confident coming into this and the 8.5n/a about Raonic winning the first set on a tie break looks an excellent Cash Out opportunity.

My concern with backing the Aussie in this one is his body seems to let him down rather a lot, which is a concern for a young player, and he may not last the pace against the slightly improved Raonic.

After giving Novak Djokovic a real run for his money in Rome the Canadian is much too short today and a lay of the 3-0 Raonic at 1.84/5 may not be the worst bet either.

Kyrgios has a very good serve and I can't see Milos breaking him in the early stages of this match, while we all know about Raonic's serve and we should see a price of well below 1.910/11 should they get to 6-6 in set one.

Elsewhere, I couldn't back Jerzy Janowicz against a decent club player at 1.271/4 at the moment and he looks a 3-0 lay against Victor Estrella Burgos.

Tsonga has a perfect 6-0 record against Edouard Roger-Vasselin, but I don't see him as a 3-0 winner in what is a tough opening round match for the out of form Tsonga.

ERV has had a very good year or so and will make Tsonga work very hard for this win and the over 36.5 total games and lay of Tsonga 3-0 look the options here.

Four of the six sets that Jo played in similar conditions in Rome went to tie breaks and he dropped a set to today's opponent in Madrid on quicker clay a few weeks ago.

Tsonga is under a lot of pressure here this fortnight, as he made the semi finals here last year and he looks certain to drop a fair few ranking points, which will see him drop yet further down the rankings.

Recommended Bet
Back over 36.5 total games in Tsonga/Roger-Vasselin at 1.9420/21

Best Cash Out Opportunity
Back Raonic to win set one 7-6 vs Kyrgios at 8.5n/a