French Open men's singles semi-finals: Tips and suggested bets

With the shock withdrawal of Novak Djokovic, we will see a first-time French Open men's singles champion crowned no matter how the remaining three matches proceed.

Casper Ruud is the only man in the last four who has previously reached a French Open final while the remaining three are players who have all matched or bettered their personal best efforts at Roland Garros.

Ruud faces a man with painful memories of the French Open semi-finals Alexander Zverev. The German suffered a horror Achilles injury in the 2022 semi-finals while giving Rafael Nadal quite a match.

Both Zverev and Ruud have won titles on clay this season with the Norwegian taking the Barcelona title while the German No 1 claimed the Rome Masters crown.

The other semi-final sees Jannik Sinner take on Carlos Alcaraz in a match between the two title favourites. Sinner hasn't had the ideal preparation through the clay swing but has found his level at Roland Garros.

Alcaraz is out to continue the rich Spanish history with the French Open and win his first title of the year.

He cannot win that title on Friday but he could let the trophy slip through his grasp if he cannot beat the form player on the ATP Tour in Sinner.

 

French Open 2024 Men's Singles semi-finals: Carlos Alcaraz vs Jannik Sinner | Pick: Sinner

French Open 2024 Men's Singles semi-finals: Casper Ruud vs Alexander Zverev | Pick: Zverev

 

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French Open 2024 Men's Singles semi-finals: Carlos Alcaraz vs Jannik Sinner - Suggested bets

Carlos Alcaraz has been made the favourite for this one so there is some value to be had out of backing Jannik Sinner for an unqualified win.

However given the form of both players, punters might also want to consider backing the Italian for a 3-2 set score in victory.

In three previous meetings, these two have taken each other to a first-set tiebreaker with Alcaraz winning two of those. It could be worthwhile to favour Alcaraz to win set 1 by the score of 7-6.

This clash is quite close and that suggests that you could back either player on a set handicap of -1.5 and still come up smiling, but the odds on those bets are a little tight.

Alcaraz holds a narrow 5-4 lead in the head-to-head between these players which sees him play as the narrow favourite while Sinner is barely considered an underdog.

Crucially the world No 2 from Italy won the last encounter between these players on clay.

 

French Open 2024 Men's Singles semi-finals: Casper Ruud vs Alexander Zverev - Suggested bets

Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud have run up against each other on four occasions on the ATP Tour and they have split those clashes evenly.

Ruud has been to a French Open final and Ruud hasn't but the German is on some winning streak and will take some stopping in a five-set match on clay.

Zverev takes the negative side of a set handicap of 1.5 but in the form that he is currently in he might be able to beat that by keeping Ruud down to one set win or less. Ruud won in straight sets when they met at this same stage last season and Zverev will want to exact some revenge.

The set 1 games 2-way (9.5) might be a market to get behind the under with both players able to take advantage of early slip-ups. Zverev could force an advantage and test the theory that Ruud often gives up on sets to conserve his energy.

When it comes to predicting the set score, it is a tough ask, but the rewards are great. Ruud has gone down 1-6 in quite a few sets at Roland Garros already and the score is definitely in play in this clash's first frame.