{"id":105377,"date":"2026-05-23T23:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=105377"},"modified":"2026-05-23T23:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:51:10","slug":"wta-french-open-blinkova-starodubtseva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/05\/23\/wta-french-open-blinkova-starodubtseva\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA French Open First Round Best Bets Including Anna Blinkova vs Yulia Starodubtseva"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WTA French Open action begins. The 2026 edition of Roland Garros gets underway, as the second major tournament of the year and the one clay major arrives in Paris. This should be a very interesting women\u2019s tournament, since there is no clear or obvious favorite going in. Iga Swiatek had a solid Rome tournament but lost to Elina Svitolina and is still not the dominant player she once was. Aryna Sabalenka is the top seed but has struggled recently. Coco Gauff is the defending champion but has been involved in a lot of three-set matches in recent weeks. The lack of predictability adds to the excitement around the event. It all starts on Sunday. LWOS has our best bets for three matches. Post your best bets and thoughts in the comments.<\/span><\/p>\n

WTA French Open\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Blinkova \u2013 Starodubtseva: Time 6:30 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 1-0<\/b><\/p>\n

Anna Blinkova faces Yulia Starodubtseva. Blinkova is ranked World No. 99, Starodubtseva No. 54. Blinkova has been ordinary in recent matches, going 3-3 in her last six, but that span of matches does include a win over Leylah Fernandez, a top-30 player. Starodubtseva is 4-2 in her last six matches and has been slightly more consistent. She is priced as a heavy favorite going into this match.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Starodubtseva is likely to win this match, but you\u2019re not going to get any real return on an investment for that. The action is at 1.5 sets. Both sides of the spread will pay out just under 2.00, so this is where the bet should come either way. We are going to lean to Blinkova +1.5 sets not because we believe in her, but because Starodubtseva has not been consistent enough to deserve a higher level of respect. Starodubtseva has recently lost to an out-of-form Madison Keys and to Anhelina Kalinina, ranked World No. 84. She could easily win this match but is not likely to dominate it.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Blinkova +1.5 sets is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Blinkova +1.5 sets @1.95 @10Bet<\/b><\/p>\n

Sorribes Tormo \u2013 Korpatsch: Time 8:30 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 5\u20131<\/b><\/p>\n

Sara Sorribes Tormo faces Tamara Korpatsch. Everyone will notice the 5-1 head-to-head advantage for Sorribes Tormo, so let\u2019s look at that and not focus as much on recent results. Sorribes Tormo does lead the head-to-head by four wins, but four of the six matches played between these two veterans came in 2019 or earlier. One match was in 2025, and the most recent match in Madrid just a month ago was won by Korpatsch, though Sorribes Tormo did retire in the second set. The head-to-head record might not mean as much as it might seem on the surface. In terms of recent results, Sorribes Tormo is 8-2 in her last 10 matches, but she has mainly played challengers and WTA 125 tournaments. Korpatsch won two Rome qualifying matches and reached the main draw there. Sorribes Tormo lost her only Madrid qualifying match.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

The head-to-head doesn\u2019t seem to matter in light of recent developments. Korpatsch has generally faced better competition than Sorribes Tormo and should now have confidence she can beat Sorribes Tormo. Korpatsch moneyline has a good price. Go with Korpatsch.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Value bet\/ the best odds: Korpatsch winning @1.80 @Bet365<\/b><\/p>\n

Jones \u2013 Haddad Maia: Time 7:00 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0\u20132<\/b><\/p>\n

Francesca Jones faces Beatriz Haddad Maia. Jones is ranked World No. 105, Haddad Maia 78. However, even though Haddad Maia is ranked 27 spots higher than Jones, she is not playing better tennis right now. Haddad Maia is 2-4 in her last six matches and is on a four-match losing streak. Jones is 3-3 in her last six matches. Haddad Maia is in worse form and has a lot of doubts to overcome in this match.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The head-to-head belongs to Haddad Maia, but she is not playing well enough to merit any real trust from a betting standpoint. She used to be a very strong clay player but has lost form in recent years and is struggling to regain it. So, you don\u2019t want to take a pro-Haddad Maia angle here. However, it\u2019s not as though Jones deserves trust, either. She hasn\u2019t been terrible in recent weeks, but she isn\u2019t doing anything special on tour, either. It\u2019s the classic match in which you have two relatively mediocre players, and therefore a match in which a three-setter is very possible. Go with over 2.5 sets anytime you can\u2019t really make up your mind on a moneyline bet. The price for over 2.5 sets will always be worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on over 2.5 sets is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: over 2.5 sets @2.42 @Betsson<\/b><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports \u00a0 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The WTA French Open action begins. The 2026 edition of Roland Garros gets underway, as the second major tournament of the year and the one clay major arrives in Paris. This should be a very interesting women\u2019s tournament, since there is no clear or obvious favorite going in. Iga Swiatek had a solid Rome tournament […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5481,"featured_media":60902,"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":[43776,1763,2840,17399,13581,4122,5296,15,5922,41978],"class_list":["post-105377","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-anna-blinkova","tag-beatriz-haddad-maia","tag-best-bets","tag-francesca-jones","tag-sara-sorribes-tormo","tag-tamara-korpatsch","tag-wta","tag-wta-french-open","tag-yulia-starodubtseva"],"modified_by":"Kane Webb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105377","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=105377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105378,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105377\/revisions\/105378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}