Two Canadians have the chance to punch their ticket to the round of 32 at Roland-Garros on Wednesday.
The pregame narrative: Gabriel Diallo turned heads as a sizeable underdog in the first round when he disposed of his top-20-ranked opponent in straight sets. Denis Shapovalov also advanced to the second round and is the favourite over a young competitor.
Check out my top French Open picks for the Canadian men’s tennis matches on May 29.
French Open picks
Best bet: Diallo to win (+130)
Diallo plays in another Grand Slam major but didn’t have to qualify this time around, giving him more energy heading into the French Open.
He used that to his advantage and stormed out of the gate with a straight-set win over No. 18-ranked Francisco Cerundolo.
The victory was extra impressive considering the Argentine is a clay specialist with a 274-119 record on the surface (19-9 in 2025).
Now I think Diallo can keep rolling against his second-round opponent.
Tallon Griekspoor is having a good season (21-12) but continues to be a decent clay player at best. His 10-6 record in 2025 doesn’t seem bad, but he has a 2-5 mark on the surface against top 50 players.
The two he beat (Marcos Giron, Miomir Kecmanovic) are both under .500 on clay in 2025 with a combined 9-14 record.
I’ll happily back the in-form underdog in this match.
Key stat: Diallo is finding his footing on clay courts. He’s 6-3 since the start of the Madrid Open with notable wins over Grigor Dimitrov, Cameron Norrie and most recently Cerundolo.
Full French Open betting markets.
Fade Shapovalov in the second round
Filip Misolic +1.5 sets vs. Shapovalov (-134): Shapovalov looked like a promising young player on clay back in 2015 when he recorded a 28-6 record.
Since then, he is 38-41 on the surface. His success came in the Challenger Series, and he clearly hasn’t been the same at the next level.
It’s been a decade, and the Canadian still struggles on clay as indicated by his 2-4 record in 2025.
His Thursday opponent is new on the scene but has been successful this year.
- Misolic is 32-12 and, more importantly, 22-7 on clay.
- While most of that work was done in the Challenger Series, the 23-year-old has been at the French Open before.
- Last year, Misolic made his Grand Slam debut at Roland-Garros and advanced through three qualifiers and the first round before running into Cerundolo in the second round.
As mentioned earlier, Cerundolo is a tough opponent who’s a top player on clay.
The same can’t be said about Shapovalov, who’s bound to struggle vs. an opponent on their preferred playing surface.
Misolic has played 230 of his 304 matches on clay, holding a 155-75 record.
French Open picks made at 4:10 p.m. on 05/28/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.