Stan Wawrinka defied all odds last year to win his second Grand Slam event in Roland Garros. He begins his journey of defending his French Open title later today when he faces Lukas Rosol, whom he defeated in a recent tournament. Will Wawrinka keep his unblemished head-to-head record against Rosol? Or will the Czech send shockwaves across the tennis world with a victory?
It wasn’t long ago when Wawrinka stood across a clay court playing Rosol. That was on May 20, when Wawrinka earned a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Rosol in the semis of the Geneva Open. Wawrinka went on to win the tournament by rolling past Marin Cilic in the finals, 6-4, 6-6 (13-11).
Wawrinka has played in a number of clay-courted events of late as part of his preparation for the French Open. Besides winning the Geneva tourney, Wawrinka reached the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in April, losing to clay maestro Rafael Nadal.
Rosol, however, is no Nadal so Wawrinka is expected to take care of the Czech later today.
In his Geneva Open win over Rosol, Wawrinka had an 83 percent clip on first serve points won and 68% on his second serves.
Wawrinka has a commanding 4-0 career record against Rosol.
Betting on Lukas Rosol
Who is Lukas Rosol? Well, Rosol is a guy who hasn’t gone past the third round of any Grand Slam events thus far in his career. He’s the classic sacrificial first-round lamb for a defending champion like Wawrinka.
Rosol’s price of +800 versus Wawrinka, however, is much shorter than most of the other first-round underdogs’ odds. In other words, this game could be more competitive than what the public thinks it would be.
Although Rosol lost to Wawrinka in Geneva, he did show bits of success against reigning French Open champion. Among Rosol’s few highlights was a break of serve in the second set of that game to tie the match.
Rosol managed to get into the third round of last year’s French Open, losing in that round to world no. 80 Teymuraz Gabashvili.
