Stan Wawrinka vs Thanasi Kokkinakis Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP French Open

Prediction published on 30/05/2023, 07:24  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 30/05/2023 at 10:19 in Tennis Predictions

Wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis takes on unseeded Stan Wawrinka for a place in the Roland Garros third round. The winner of this match will face either 11th seed Karen Khachanov or qualifier Rudo Albot in their next match. Kokkinakis began this tournament ranked 108th in the world. He caused a shock in the first round when beating the 20th seeded Daniel Evans. The Australian won in straight sets, each one won 6-4. He's bidding to reach the third round at Roland Garros for only the second time. His other appearance in the last 32 was back in 2015. That's also his only third round in a Grand Slam tournament. Beating Evans gave him his first win at Roland Garros since that run to the third round. Kokkinakis is up to 94th in the live rankings after finally getting another win. He's won seven of his 11 matches played on clay this year. His best performance on this surface in 2023 was getting to the last eight of a Challenger Tour event in Cagliari.

Stan Wawrinka also has fond memories of the 2015 French Open. That's because he won the title that year. 2015 saw him reach at least the last eight of each of the four Grand Slams. He was also the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2017 but injuries have affected his career in recent years. His first round win over Albert Ramos Vinolas ended a run of four first round losses in Grand Slam tournaments.  He won the first two sets in that first round match but then lost the next two. The final set was won 6-4 by the Swiss player. It took over four hours to get the win though. Wawrinka was only ranked 89th at the beginning of this 2023 Roland Garros tournament, His five-set win in the opening round has taken him up to 76th in the live list. He's won six of his 11 clay court matches this year with a best of a quarter final in the Bordeaux Challenger Tour event. We go for Kokkinakis to get the win here.