Daily Tennis Tips – Monday 19th May

See below for our expert daily tennis tips and best bets around the courts for Monday May 19, 2025!

Aussie veteran Ajla Tomljanovic warms up for the French Open at the Morocco Open, where she takes on Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova in the first round.

After starting the clay swing promisingly with a Round of 16 run at the Charleston Open, world No.79 Tomljanovic has struggled for wins and exit in the first round in Madrid (to Rebeka Masarova) and Rome (to Varvara Gracheva).

The 32-year-old did look good in Rome qualifying, however, thrashing compatriot Olivia Gadecki 6-1 6-3.

Tomova, ranked 61st, is winless on clay this season, losing first up in Charleston (to Robin Montgomery), Madrid (to Alex Eala) and Rome (to Emiliana Arango) – her only three outings since the Miami Masters in March.

Tomljanovic looks a solid option here as a $1.55 favourite with a decent amount of tennis under her belt lately.

World No.22 Beatriz Haddad Maia is striving for a form turnaround ahead of the French Open, but she faces a tough first-up assignment at the Internationaux de Strasbourg against big improver Clara Tauson.

Haddad Maia – a semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 2023 – has managed just one win in this clay season, against Bernarda Pera in Madrid, and was demolished 6-0 6-3 by Marie Bouzkova in Rome.

Powering into the top 25 by winning the Auckland Open and reaching the Dubai final, Tauson bounced back from a dip to reached the last 16 in Rome – beating Katie Volynets and Emma Navarro before taking Mirra Andreeva to three sets.

Their head-to-head is one-all after a pair of 2022 encounters.

Tauson is no slouch on clay, reaching the last 16 at the 2024 French Open, and is streets ahead of the Brazilian form-wise at present.

The 2024 Internationaux de Strasbourg runner-up, Danielle Collins, is a $1.65 favourite to beat fellow American Sofia Kenin in the first round.

Collins leads the head-to-head 3-1, but they haven’t met since Kenin’s victory at the 2020 French Open.

Despite slipping to No.35, Collins has looked good on the clay swing – reaching the quarters in Charleston with a win of Jelena Ostapenko and taking a set off Jessica Pegula, and shocking Iga Swiatek at the Rome Masters to get to the last 16.

World No.31 Kenin made the final in Charleston – losing to Pegula – and had wins over Lulu Sun in Madrid and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Rome, before going down to Anastasia Potapova and Aryna Sabalenka, respectively.

There’s little between the talented, enigmatic duo here and a lengthy duel looms – with the winner a definite contender for the title.

World No.15 Daria Kasatkina and 49th-ranked Emma Raducanu can barely be split in the head-to-head market ahead of their Internationaux de Strasbourg first-round clash, but Kasatkina boasts the psychological advantage.

Kasatkina is 3-0 against Raducanu, including wins at the Eastbourne International and Korea Open in 2024.

But the Russian – French Open semi-finalist in 2022 – has struggled for momentum on this clay swing and went down 6-4 6-2 to Marta Kostyuk in her Rome Masters opener.

The injury-prone Raducanu, meanwhile, reached the last 16 in Rome, including a win over Veronika Kudermetova, before losing convincingly to Coco Gauff. Overall the former US Open champ’s form has been encouraging, beating two top-20 opponents to make the Miami Masters quarters.

In a pick ’em encounter, though, Kasatkina shapes as the better option with a much strong clay-court CV.