Daily Tennis Tips – 16th July

Frenchman Quentin Halys takes on veteran compatriot Richard Gasquet for the first time at the Swiss Open.

Sliding to 192nd in the world after reaching a career-high ranking of No.61 last year, Halys recovered from the disappointment of failing to qualifying for the French Open with a third-round run at Wimbledon.

The 27-year-old beat Chris Eubanks and 21st seed Karen Khachanov, before taking Holger Rune to five sets. He outlasted Giovanni Fonio and Nicolas Moreno De Alboran to qualify for the main draw here.

Gasquet’s only ATP main draw win in the last three months was over Borna Coric at the French Open, while he lost in Wimbledon qualifying. Ranked 132nd, the 38-year-old lost a first-round Challenger match to world No.257 Samuel Vincent Ruggeri last week.

The three-time grand slam semi-finalist won this clay-court tournament back in 2006 and was the runner-up in 2010.

But Halys’ Wimbledon performances were compelling and he should keep the momentum going in Gstaad.

Living legend Rafael Nadal’s build-up to the Paris Olympics begins at the Swedish Open, playing his first singles match since the French Open in the first round against local 21-year-old Leo Borg, the son of tennis icon Bjorn.

Nadal built nicely during the clay swing after another long injury absence, but a horror draw saw him eliminated first up at Roland Garros by Alexander Zverev.

The 38-year-old returned to the court yesterday with a doubles win alongside Casper Ruud. Nadal won this tournament way back in 2005.

Borg is ranked No.461 and has a 1-7 record on the ATP Tour, picking up his only win with an upset of fellow Swede Elias Ymer in the first round of this event in 2023. He’s picked up a handful of ITF titles in the past two years and reached two clay-court finals at that level.

This is a career highlight for Borg, whose surname attracts even more attention to this apparent mismatch. Nadal is a prohibitive $1.02 favourite giving away a 7.5-game start, but the tyro is capable of nabbing a few games here with his vaunted opponent sure to be a touch underdone.

Aussie qualifier Olivia Gadecki lines up against fourth seed Diane Parry in the first round of the Palermo Ladies Open.

World No.168 Gadecki breezed through her qualifying matches – dropping just four games in each – in her first outings since a first-round 6-4 6-4 loss to Robin Montgomery at Wimbledon.

The 22-year-old Queenslander has not won a WTA main draw match since outlasting compatriot Kim Birrell in the opening round of the Brisbane International in January.

Parry, ranked 58th, was bounced from the first round at Wimbledon by Naomi Osaka but backed up to play the Swedish Open last week. She lost to Martin Trevisan in the quarter-finals as the top seed.

The French 21-year-old’s standout results in 2024 were getting to the third round of the Australian Open, the Round of 16 at Indian Wells and the Nottingham Open semis. Parry is the clear value option as only a $1.50 favourite in this one.

Aiming to find some rhythm prior to the Olympics, Australia’s top women’s player Ajla Tomljanovic lines up in the first round of the Palermo Ladies Open against Mayar Sherif, who is set to represent Egypt in Paris.

Tomljanovic has endured a horror run of injuries after reaching three grand slam quarter-finals in 2021-22, but enjoyed a rousing return to form with a run to the Birmingham Classic final last month.

The 31-year-old – who was nudging the top 30 last year – has only played one match since, a convincing loss to Jelena Ostapenko in the first round at Wimbledon.

World No.67 Sherif was also eliminated first up at Wimbledon in comprehensive fashion, by Dalma Galfi, but responded with a charge to the final of a WTA 125k event in Contrexeville last week, where she lost a thriller to Lucia Bronzetti.

A clay specialist, Sherif reached the Morocco Open final in May – a tournament that Tomljanovic was the runner-up at in 2018 – as well as the finals of two other recent lower-level events on the surface. That makes for a tough assignment for Tomljanovic, who played just two matches on the clay swing.