{"id":104935,"date":"2026-05-17T23:43:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T03:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=104935"},"modified":"2026-05-17T23:43:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T03:43:53","slug":"wta-french-open-jorge-kalieva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/05\/17\/wta-french-open-jorge-kalieva\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA French Open Qualifying Best Bets Including Matilde Jorge vs Elvina Kalieva"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WTA French Open women\u2019s qualifying action begins. These matches won\u2019t receive the same attention that the main draw of the tournament will get, but these are huge moments for tour professionals. Getting into the main draw of a major tournament means a bigger paycheck and an opportunity to make a huge gain in the rankings. A lot of players are pursuing money, points, and the important opportunity to be able to directly qualify for smaller tournaments later this season and in the future. These are season-defining moments for many of the players involved. LWOS has our best bets for three matches. Post your best bets and thoughts in the comments.<\/span><\/p>\n

WTA French Open qualifying<\/b><\/h2>\n

Jorge \u2013 Kalieva: Time 16:30 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0-0<\/b><\/p>\n

Matilde Jorge faces Elvina Kalieva. There is a noticeable rankings gap between the two players, with Kalieva 109 spots higher (140 to 249). What might be a bigger and more important point of differentiation between the two players is that in 2026, Kalieva has scored 10 match wins on clay, while Jorge has managed only two wins. Kalieva is 3-2 in her last five matches, while Jorge is 2-3 in her last five. Kalieva\u2019s last 10 matches include two wins in Madrid qualifying, whereas Jorge\u2019s only non-challenger matches in her last 10 were in the Billie Jean King Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bet to Make<\/b><\/p>\n

Kalieva is a better player who is facing superior competition and has obviously better 2026 clay-court results. The comparison between the two players reveals a large gap in overall quality and in clay quality. Kalieva winning in straight sets is a bet that should be able to come home. The price might not be amazing, but the comfort level of this bet is higher than a lot of the other bets we recommend in the day-to-day action, which fills the tennis calendar.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Kalieva winning 2:0 is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Kalieva winning 2:0 @1.68 @1xbet<\/b><\/p>\n

Stoiana \u2013 Janicijevic: Time 16:30 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 1\u20130<\/b><\/p>\n

Mary Stoiana faces Selena Janicijevic. Stoiana is ranked 99 spots higher than Janicijevic, 149 to 248. Clay match wins in 2026 are close between the two, with Stoiana having 11 and Janicijevic having nine. However, Stoiana has an 11-5 record in her 16 clay matches this year. Janicijevic has a losing record, 9-11, in her 20 clay matches played in 2026. Stoiana is 3-2 in her last five matches. Janicijevic is 2-3 in her last five.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Best Bet to Make<\/b><\/p>\n

Stoiana has the better track record, the better run of recent form, the better clay comfort zone, and even one head-to-head win against Janicijevic. The question isn\u2019t whether Stoiana will win, but whether she can cover set or game spreads. The price for a straight-set win isn\u2019t amazing, but it\u2019s enough for us to recommend it as the best bet here.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Stoiana winning 2:0 is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Stoiana winning 2:0 @1.60 @1xbet<\/b><\/p>\n

Rus \u2013 Ortenzi: Time 16:30 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0\u20130<\/b><\/p>\n

Arantxa Rus faces Jazmin Ortenzi. Rus is the higher-ranked player, 147 to 169, but Ortenzi has had a much better clay-court record in 2026, going 16-6 in 22 clay matches compared to Rus being 3-7 in 10 clay matches played this year. Rus is 2-3 in her last five matches, while Ortenzi is 3-2 in her last five. Interestingly, both players lost to the same opponent, Christina Lyutova, at the recent Indian Harbour Beach challenger event. Rus lost in the quarterfinals in straight sets. Ortenzi lost in the semifinals in three sets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bet to Make<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s really hard to ignore or overlook the clay-court records for these two players in 2026. The 16-6 mark for Ortenzi is dramatically better than the 3-7 record for Rus on the same surface this year. When there is a large difference in performance on a specific surface, and the player with the inferior record is not clearly the more talented player, there is no reason to make things complicated. Go with the better 2026 clay-court player, which is Ortenzi.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Ortenzi winning is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Ortenzi winning @1.67 @bet365<\/b><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Matthias Hauer-USA TODAY Sports<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The WTA French Open women\u2019s qualifying action begins. These matches won\u2019t receive the same attention that the main draw of the tournament will get, but these are huge moments for tour professionals. Getting into the main draw of a major tournament means a bigger paycheck and an opportunity to make a huge gain in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5481,"featured_media":56236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17400,5,4],"tags":[43776,5300,17399,17396,43304,43624,43777,6298,15,5922],"class_list":["post-104935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-french-open","category-wta","tag-2026-wta-french-open","tag-arantxa-rus","tag-best-bets","tag-elvina-kalieva","tag-jazmin-ortenzi","tag-mary-stoiana","tag-matilde-jorge","tag-selena-janicijevic","tag-wta","tag-wta-french-open"],"modified_by":"Kane Webb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104936,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104935\/revisions\/104936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}