Holger Rune vs Hugo Gaston Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP French Open

Prediction published on 28/05/2022, 06:06  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 28/05/2022 at 07:07 in Tennis Predictions

Two unseeded players meet in the third round of the French Open. Holger Rune is the worthy favourite to beat Hugo Gaston to reach the last 16 at Roland Garros where he could face fourth seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas. This is only the third time the world number 40 has played in the main draw of a Grand Slam and the first time at Roland Garros. It's also the first time he's made it past the first round of a Grand Slam. Over the past year or so though, Rune has won four clay court tournaments on the Challenger Tour and more notably, an ATP 250 series event in Munich this year. That title win included a victory over Alexander Zverev for the loss of just four games. Rune also made it to the semi-finals of the clay court event held in Lyon just before this tournament. He caused a surprise in his first ever match at Roland Garros when defeating the 14th seed Denis Shapovalov in straight sets. That was followed by another straight sets victory, this time over Henri Laaksonen. The 19-year-old began this year ranked 103rd in the world but is now up to 33rd in the live rankings.

Hugo Gaston is ranked 74th but up ten places in the live rankings. That's just one position short of his career high ranking of 63rd, he'll surpass that with a win over Rune. The Frenchman reached the fourth round at Roland Garros two years ago but didn't get past the first round in 2021. This is only his fifth time in the main draw of a Grand Slama and he's lost in the first round in the others he's played in. Gaston made a terrible start to 2022, losing five of his first six matches. He got to the last 32 in Miami, beating John Isner in that event. Before this week his form has been poor on clay this year with just one win in six matches. The 21-year-old has improved in his home Grand Slam though with victories over 19th seed Alex de Minaur in round one, going all the way to the new-style final set tie-break. The second round saw him beat lucky loser Pedro Cachin in straight sets. This will be a tough match for him and not even the French crowd cheering him on will help. Back Rune to win this.