2022 French Open Men’s Semifinal Tennis Odds, Predictions
No. 8 Casper Ruud vs. No. 20 Marin Cilic will square off in the second. Nadal and Ruud are favoured to meet on the tennis odds in Sunday’s final.
Nadal vs. Zverev French Open Odds
This writer would argue that the worst draw in recent major tennis history was this year’s French Open, which because of the seedings somehow had the four men’s favourites in No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 6 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 5 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Alexander Zverev all in the same half of the draw. That’s absurd.
Nadal is the greatest clay-court player in history with a record 13 French Open titles. He has only lost at Roland Garros three times, with one of those in the 2021 semifinals to Djokovic, who would go on to win his second French title. Instead of tennis fans getting a Nadal-Djokovic final this year, they met in the quarters and Nadal, a rare underdog in Paris, won 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) in more than four hours. It was the 59th all-time match between the two, more than any other two men have played against each other in the Open era.
The Spaniard turns 36 on Friday when he meets the German Zverev, who is 25 and would reach No. 1 in the world if he wins this tournament. Zverev would climb to a career-high No. 2 next week if he loses in the final and remain world No. 3 if he falls to Nadal. Zverev beat the red-hot Alcaraz 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7) in the quarterfinals. Alcaraz entered the match with an ATP Tour-leading four titles and 32-3 record this season, 20-1 on clay. Zverev entered with a 0-11 record in Grand Slam matches against opponents in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings.
Nadal is the -400 favourite to win the match and -204 leader to win the tournament, while Zverev is +266 and +378, respectively. Nadal leads the all-time series 5-3, but they haven’t played this year or previously in the French Open.
Ruud vs. Cilic French Open Odds
No disrespect eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway or No. 20 Marin Cilic of Croatia, but this is the clear undercard semifinal match and whomever wins will be a major underdog Sunday vs. either Nadal or Zverev.
Cilic upset No. 7 Andrey Rublev 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) in the quarterfinals in one of the best matches of this tournament. Cilic had beaten second seed Daniil Medvedev in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals. The 33-year-old Cilic, a 2014 U.S. Open champion who reached as high as No. 3 in the world years ago, hadn’t been past the second round of the French Open in the previous three years and never to the semifinals – he has now reached the semis at all four Grand Slam tournaments.
The 23-year-old Ruud is a rising star who had never been past the third round here in four tries or past the quarterfinals of any Slam. He beat unseeded Holger Rune 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 in the quarters. Ruud is looking to become the first Norwegian to make a Grand Slam final.
Ruud is -235 to win this match and +557 for the tournament, while Cilic is +170 and +1031, respectively. Ruud is 2-0 vs. Cilic with their last meeting in Canada in 2021.
French Open Men’s Semifinal Picks
Nadal and Cilic advance
