World no. 1 Novak Djokovic begins his mission (again) of winning his first French Open title today, as he clashes with Yen-Hsun Lu in the first round of the 2016 French Open. Djokovic is expected to steamroll past the Taiwanese, but will Lu shock us all with a earth-shattering upset win? Read on for more about this matchup. You can also check out our breakdown of Rafael Nadal vs. Sam Groth.
Djokovic has no plans of getting embarrassed in the first round. The odds is definitely in the side of the top-seeded Serbian, who is looking for a big opening splash in Paris following a finals loss in his previous tournament.
Djokovic racked up four-straight wins in the recent Italian Open in Rome before losing to Andy Murray in the finals, 6-3, 6-3. Nevertheless, Djokovic should have an easy time demolishing his lesser-known first-round opponent in Lu. Djokovic has reached the French Open finals three times (2012, 2014, 2015) before.
Djokovic has a killer second serve on the clay court, as evidenced by his ATP seventh-ranked 53.0% points won on second serves.
In addition, Djokovic has a 81.36 career winning percentage in the French Open.
Betting on Yen-Hsun Lu
It’s alright if you needed to Google Lu’s name. After all, the Taiwanese hasn’t had much success in Grand Slam events in the past.
That being said, Lu has shown in previous Grand Slam tournaments that he’s more than just a one-and-done show in such events. Lu has reached the second round of the French Open twice (2013, 2015). Last year, he defeated Slovenian Blaž Kavčič in the first round before losing to Kevin Anderson in round two.
Lu’s best finish in a Grand Slam event, however, came in 2010, when he reached the quarterfinals. Although he was pulverized by Djokovic in that round, he did impress a lot of people by defeating Andy Roddick in the previous contest.
