Andy Schooler picked two more winners at the French Open on Wednesday. Here’s his look at Thursday’s second-round matches.
French Open betting tips: Daily best bets
1pt Raphael Collignon to beat Ben Shelton at 7/4 (General)
1pt Francisco Comesana (+5.5) to beat Luciano Darderi on the game handicap at 22/25 (BetMGM)
Raphael Collignon v Ben Shelton
I think there are a few potential upsets on the cards on Thursday.
I considered backing Valentin Vacherot against Alejandro Tabilo, and Jan-Lennard Struff to oust Jaime Faria, but I’ve settled on taking Collignon in this match-up.
The Belgian has enjoyed a pretty spectacular rise up the rankings over the past year and he’s been particularly good in the big matches, going 4-3 against top-20 opponents in that period.
Alex De Minaur, Casper Ruud and, earlier this season, Flavio Cobolli are among those to be defeated.
Admittedly, all those results came on a hardcourt but Collignon has been building his confidence on this surface with a string of victories on the Challenger Tour, winning the title in Monza and making the final in Bordeaux.
When stepping up to the main tour in Geneva, he found Ruud too good but there’s no disgrace in that, while he dominated Aleksandar Vukic in round one here.
Shelton would also prefer to be playing this contest on a hard surface.
His big serve went unbroken in his opening match but his first-serve percentage of 76% was exceptionally high, one he’ll struggle to repeat.
Notably, he won just 39% of points behind his second serve, an issue Collignon can exploit, especially if that first-serve percentages does drop quite a bit. Shelton’s average this season is 67%.
Shelton is capable of overwhelming most players if his serve is on but temperatures won’t be as high on Thursday, while it’s also notable that this match is scheduled last on Court Suzanne Lenglen so looks set to be played in cooler, slower conditions.
In short, I like Collignon here and will back him to claim another scalp at 7/4.
Francisco Comesana v Luciano Darderi
Comesana is another interesting underdog.
He’s a decent sort on the clay, although he hasn’t shown it often enough this season.
However, he holds a good record against Darderi, winning both of their previous meetings, including one on clay.
He was also in good nick in round one when beating Ethan Quinn, a player who has made some waves this season. Comesana was broken only once in that clash.
Darderi was also a straight-sets winner, beating Sebastian Ofner, but the Austrian did create 11 break points and had he converted more than just two it could well have been a lot closer.
I know the Italian has been operating at a higher level, notably reaching the semi-finals of the Rome Masters, but he’s also thrown in some pretty poor displays during the clay swing, barely winning a game against Casper Ruud and Alex de Minaur.
I think Comesana can cause him problems here and while I’m not really seeing the upset, backing him on the game handicap makes sense to me.
Posted at 15:50 BST on 27/05/26
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