Marco Cecchinato vs Dominic Thiem
It may seem that the Women’s Singles is the only source of unpredictable action at this year’s French Open. However, the first Men’s Singles semi-final is anything but the expected!
There were plenty of superb clay-court players on the lower half of the tournament table, and every single one of them got favourable French Open betting tips from some of the biggest online bookies such as SBOBET. However, the betting gods have made their say and gifted us with this very unpredictable matchup!
Marco Cecchinato did well in climbing through the tournament ladder, pulling off upset versus upset against bigger fish. He is easily this year’s dark horse, and it is up to Dominic Thiem to put a halt on the Italian’s eye-catching form.
Which young gun will book a ticket to his first-ever Grand Slam final? Let’s go and give it a look.
Talking Points
Cecchinato is the man of the hour; the impressive Italian; the gritty, indomitable fighter. Almost every match of his incredible run to this point of the tournament were rough battles of endurance and mental fortitude. In fact, his first-round match against Marius Copil took almost four hours, with the final set taking an astonishing 18 games to finish.
His subsequent matches were no walk in the park, either. Against Marco Trungelliti, the 25-year-old wasn’t able to crack him open in the second set and had to resort to a tie-break. Pablo Carreño Busta overwhelmed him in the first set before he was able to win the next three. David Goffin was also a tough customer to break.
However, the most eye-catching result is his quarter-final thriller against Novak Djokovic. The Serb, once the most dominant player on the tennis court, played a rough game against the Italian. Cecchinato won 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 1-6 7-6 (13-11) to the shock and delight of many tennis fans around the globe.
Djokovic was reportedly so upset with the result that he threatened to not show up for Wimbledon and the rest of the grass-court season. Meanwhile, the world no 72 was clearly pleased with the result.
“Maybe I’m sleeping. It’s amazing, it’s unbelievable for me. I’m very happy because it’s unbelievable to beat Novak Djokovic in a quarter-final at Roland Garros,” Cecchinato said.
On the winning match point, he added: “When I saw my return hit the line it was the best moment of my life.”
Meanwhile, Thiem also had an interesting trip to the semi-final. He won the first round against Ilya Ivashka in straight sets but dropped sets against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini and Kei Nishikori. His quarter-final duel with Alexander Zverev was supposed to be his revenge for his Madrid Open loss, but Zverev’s injured hamstring meant an easy win for Thiem, 6-4 6-2 6-1. It was not a pretty way to make the semi-final, but the Austrian will take any victory that comes his way in order to win his first Grand Slam.
History
Thiem is actually doing an impressive job in the French Open. This is his third semi-final, and there’s no question that he is the overwhelming favourite on this surface. After all, he is the one who cut Rafael Nadal’s historic streak of 51 straight set victories on a single surface.
He, alongside his quarter-final opponent, are popular names among the SBOBET Blog writers as young stars that will challenge Nadal’s dominance on the surface. Thiem’s performance in Madrid and Lyon easily tips the odds in his favour.
Meanwhile, Checchinato had a mixed bag of results in preparation for his fairytale run to the semi-final. He made it to the Last 32 in Monte Carlo and managed to win in Budapest. However, he quickly bowed out in Munich, Rome and Geneva. Given his previous match results, it was quite surprising for fans to see the Italian doing so well in the competition.
These two young studs don’t have much to go on when it comes to head-to-head history. The last time these two met on clay was in 2013 in the Italy F17 Futures. The Italian used his home-court advantage to take care of Thiem in straight sets. However, the Austrian overpowered him in their next meeting in Doha.
If we just look at face value and see where they stand now, it’s easy to say that Thiem will win this contest.
What are the Odds?
Thiem is the obvious favourite among bookies, with oddsmakers giving him as low as 1.77 for a -2.50 Asian Handicap. Meanwhile, Cecchinato gets a humungous 3.50 reward for a +1.50 boost.
Given the tendencies of these two players and their recent results, the possibility of a full-set match is extremely high. I’d advise checking out Over 32.50 for 1.98 as well as Over 32.00 for 1.88. Whether you bet on one or both is up to your guesswork. I honestly believe that these two will stretch it out and play gritty tennis.
I am more than confident that these two men will take it as far as they can, and the Paris crowd will bear witness to an interesting match of tennis!
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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