French Open 2nd Round Predictions, Day 4: Monfils-Gulbis, Errani-Putintseva

1. Gael Monfils v Ernests Gulbis

Sara Errani

Gael Monfils produced a fantastic performance to take out the number five seed, Tomas Berdych on Monday and set up an enticing second rounder with Ernests Gulbis, a battle between the two most dangerous floaters in the draw and eternal under-achievers on the tour.  Monfils has been slowly making his return to form following an injury-plagued 2012 and he was superb in beating Berdych in five epic sets.  Gulbis had a straightforward opener as he defeated Rogerio Dutra-Silva, 6-1 7-6(4) 6-3.  Gulbis and Monfils have never met before on the tour, but this is bound to be a really fun match, whatever the result.  I think Monfils will be a bit tired having played a really long match with Gulbis and going all the way in Nice.  I fancied Gulbis to make the quarters and I am sticking by my original prediction.

Prediction - Gulbis to beat Monfils in 4 sets

2. Yulia Putintseva v Sara Errani

One match that is sure to be fiesty will be the second round match between Sara Errani and Yulia Putintseva.  Last year's Roland Garros finalist Errani had a very comfortable first rounder against the heavily slumping Arantxa Rus, 6-1 6-2.  Putintseva often makes the headlines for her on-court antics however her tennis is starting to do the talking with some solid results of late and she comfortably took out Ayumi Morita in the first round.  This will be a first encounter between the pair and Putintseva will have absolutely nothing to lose in this match as the underdog.  I certainly fancy her to get a set in this one...

Prediction - Errani to beat Putintseva in 3 sets 

3. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Jarkko Nieminen

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

The French men and women will dominate the showcourts for the first few days, but the one who has the best chance of going deep into the second week is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  The world number 8 was in no mood to hang about on Monday as he tore past Iljaz Bedene, 6-2 6-2 6-3.  His second round opponent will be not be straightforward as Jarkko Nieminen can certainly wear down an opponent.  He made the quarter-finals of Monte-Carlo earlier this year with wins over Milos Raonic and Juan Martin del Potro and he showed his battling qualities in the first round with a five set win over another Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-4 4-6 7-6(11) 4-6 6-2.  Tsonga leads the head-to-head with Nieminen by 4 wins to 2, but won their most recent match in Miami comfortably.  Tsonga looked sharp in round one and he should get through this one without too much bother...

Prediction - Tsonga to beat Nieminen in 3 tight sets

4. Madison Keys v Monica Puig
Two of the promising young talents on the WTA tour, Monica Puig and Madison Keys, will meet for the opportunity to make a first ever 3rd round of the French Open.  Puig had a really impressive opener as she recovered from losing the first set to record a career best win over Nadia Petrova, 3-6 7-5 6-4.  Keys had a more straightforward first round match as she defeated Misaki Doi, 6-3 6-2.  Both players have had some really good runs this year; Puig beat Julia Goerges and Francesca Schiavone in a run to the quarter-final of Oeiras, meanwhile Keys made the quarter-finals of Charleston and beat Li Na in Madrid.  This should be an interesting match and a great chance for a big run at a Major... I give the edge to Madison.

Prediction - Keys to beat Puig in 3 sets

Best of the rest: mens 2nd round predictions
Tommy Robredo to beat Igor Sijsling in 5 sets
Andreas Seppi to beat Blaz Kavcic in 4 sets
Nicolas Almagro to beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin in 3 sets
Milos Raonic to beat Michael Llodra in 3 sets
Kevin Anderson to beat Evgeny Donskoy in 3 sets
Joao Sousa to beat Feliciano Lopez in 5 sets
David Ferrer to beat Albert Montanes in 3 tight sets

Ricardo Bautista-Agut to beat Jeremy Chardy in 4 sets
Daniel Gimeno-Traver to beat Viktor Troicki in 5 sets
Marin Cilic to beat Nick Kyrgios in 3 sets
Gilles Simon to beat Pablo Cuevas in 3 sets
Jan Hajek to beat Sam Querrey in 5 sets
Tobias Kamke to beat Julien Benneteau in 4 sets
Roger Federer to beat Somdev Devvarman in 3 sets

Best of the rest: womens 2nd round predictions

Serena Williams to beat Caroline Garcia in 2 sets
Sorana Cirstea to beat Johanna Larsson in 3 sets

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to beat Petra Cetkovska in 3 sets
Roberta Vinci to beat Galina Voskoboeva in 2 tight sets
Caroline Wozniacki to beat Bojana Jovanovski in 2 tight sets
Svetlana Kuznetsova to beat Magdalena Rybarikova in 2 sets
Varvara Lepchenko to beat Elena Svitolina in 2 sets
Angelique Kerber to beat Jana Cepelova in 2 sets

Agnieszka Radwanska to beat Mallory Burdette in 3 sets

Urszula Radwanska to beat Dinah Pfizemaier in 3 sets
Zuzana Kucova to beat Virginie Razzano in 3 sets
Ana Ivanovic to beat Mathilde Johansson in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)
Carla Suarez Navarro to beat Shelby Rogers in 2 sets
Sabine Lisicki to beat Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor in 3 sets