Marin Cilic vs Roger Federer Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP French Open

Prediction published on 02/06/2021, 06:59  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 02/06/2021 at 08:00 in ATP French Open Predictions

The men's tennis scene hasn't been the same without Roger Federer. He's back from injury and takes on Marin Cilic in the second round of the French Open on Thursday. Federer is down to eighth in the world rankings, hence him ending up in the same half of the draw as both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Winning this title isn't his main aim though, getting used to be back playing tournaments and preparing for Wimbledon is. He'd only played three matches this year before arriving at Roland Garros and he'd lost two of them. His form looked good in the first round when getting a straight sets win over Denis Istomin. Now he takes on Marin Cilic who he has played ten times and won nine of them. The winner of this match takes on either Dominik Koepfer or 30th seed Taylor Fritz in the third round. 

Marin Cilic is a former world number three but now down in 47th place. Whereas Federer now has a 2021 record of 2-2, Cilic is at 10-9 showing the inconsistency he's had this year. Cilic made it to the semi-finals in Singapore and the last sixteen in Miami but has had little success in other tournaments he has played this year. On clay he got to the last four in Estoril but none of the players he beat were in the top 100.  His worst nightmares came true in Geneva when beating beaten by Dominic Stephan Stricker, who was ranked 419th at the time. Cilic has reached the last eight at Roland Garros twice, the last time being three years ago. At least he's done better than last year when losing in round one to Dominic Thiem (already out of this tournament). He beat  Arthur Rinderkneck in three sets in this year's first round. It was tight in the first set and Cilic won that on a tie-break. Only three games were lost by him in the other two sets. Back Federer to get the win here.