{"id":105422,"date":"2026-05-24T23:17:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T03:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=105422"},"modified":"2026-05-25T01:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:32:17","slug":"french-open-day-2-mens-predictions-including-tommy-paul-vs-rinky-hijikata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/05\/24\/french-open-day-2-mens-predictions-including-tommy-paul-vs-rinky-hijikata\/","title":{"rendered":"French Open Day 2 Men’s Predictions Including Tommy Paul vs Rinky Hijikata"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 2 of the French Open will see 24 men’s singles matches as we get into the meat of the first round. The best in the world will fight for their place in Round 2. And, as always, our writers here at LWOT will share their thoughts on who it will be. We split the 24 matches between this article and five others. The other articles feature Stan Wawrinka vs Jesper de Jong<\/a>, Gael Monfils vs Hugo Gaston<\/a>, Ben Shelton vs Daniel Merida<\/a>, Casper Ruud vs Roman Safiullin<\/a>, and Rafael Jodar vs Alexandar Kovacevic<\/a>. Predicting these matches are Zain Mustafa, Manuel Traquete, and Amanda Bergman. Who do you think will win?<\/p>\n

French Open<\/a> Day 2 Men’s Predictions<\/h2>\n

Flavio Cobolli vs Andrea Pellegrino<\/h4>\n

Zain:<\/em>
\nA Top 10 seed in Paris this week, Flavio Cobolli will start off his tournament against fellow Italian Andrea Pellegrino. Pellegrino made the main draw after showing a good level during the qualifying round, and showed us two weeks ago in Rome that he can play some solid tennis on clay. But Cobolli’s weapons and speed should carry him through this match.
\nPrediction: Cobolli in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Manuel:<\/em>
\nCobolli has had a season of highs and lows, but he’s steadily getting closer to the Top 10 and a strong run here would go a long way towards that. Pellegrino won’t be an easy opponent, but Cobolli should be able to pull through here.
\nPrediction: Cobolli in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Amanda:<\/em>
\nFlavio Cobolli is an erratic player who can beat just about anyone and lose to just about anyone. His level is up-and-down from match to match, and it\u2019s always hard to know what to expect from him. That said, Cobolli can certainly defeat Andrea Pellegrino, who, aside from a run in Rome, hasn\u2019t won many Tour-level matches and is in his first Grand Slam main draw. Dips in Cobolli\u2019s level are a given, but he should be able to pull through.
\nPrediction: Cobolli in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Jurij Rodionov vs Arthur Rinderknech<\/h4>\n

Zain:<\/em>
\nAfter not dropping a set throughout the qualifying round, Jurij Rodionov’s lefty angles and serve will be intriguing to look out for in the main draw. But against Arthur Rinderknech, who will not only have the crowd support but is also the more solid and complete player overall, it is unlikely that Rodionov progresses to the next round here.
\nPrediction: Rinderknech in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Manuel:<\/em>
\nClay is far from Rinderknech’s best surface, but he got a pretty nice draw here to at least win one match, even if Rodinov played at a very good level in qualifying to reach this main draw.
\nPrediction: Rinderknech in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Amanda:<\/em>
\nSeeded at his home Slam, Arthur Rinderknech has everything in his favor going into this match. While Rinderknech doesn\u2019t have many Grand Slam wins, his opponent Jurij Rodionov has only one main-draw win at a Slam and will have to contend with both a better player and a hostile crowd. Rinderknech is likely to get his third win at the French Open in this match.
\nPrediction: Rinderknech in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Pablo Carreno Busta vs Jiri Lehecka<\/h4>\n

Zain:<\/em>
\nPablo Carreno Busta is another player whose best is quite behind him, but still on his day can play a solid backcourt game. Against Jiri Lehecka, he will need that and more, as the Czech is not only the bigger server in this match but also has the bigger groundstrokes. That combination will likely be too much for Carreno Busta to overcome at this stage of his career.
\nPrediction: Lehecka in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Manuel:<\/em>
\nAt his best, Carreno Busta would definitely be capable of having a deep run in this tournament, but those days seem long gone. Right now Lehecka is having a breakthrough season, closing in on the Top 10, and should be able to prevail here.
\nPrediction: Lehecka in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Amanda:<\/em>
\nPablo Carre\u00f1o Busta has been solid at both the Tour level and the Challenger level this year, but after a first-round Australian Open loss and a tough draw at the French Open, the Grand Slam level hasn\u2019t been going his way. Jiri Lehecka has been extremely consistent this season and is at his best ranking yet, and his success this year included a straight-set win over Carre\u00f1o Busta in Dubai. While Carre\u00f1o Busta can make things more competitive on clay, Lehecka should be able to repeat his earlier result.
\nPrediction: Lehecka in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Tommy Paul vs Rinky Hijikata<\/h4>\n

Zain:<\/em>
\nRinky Hijikata’s unique baseline style makes him a fun watch, but in this match it will likely be Tommy Paul controlling the baseline battle. That, plus Paul being the more solid player overall, are enough advantages to see a comfortable win for the American here.
\nPrediction: Paul in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Manuel:<\/em>
\nPaul is coming into this tournament<\/a> fresh off a really disappointing loss to Ignacio Buse in the Hamburg final, but he has a very nice first round draw here to bounce back and regain some confidence as he looks to at least repeat his quarterfinal run from last year.
\nPrediction: Paul in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Amanda:<\/em>
\nTommy Paul\u2019s movement and athleticism has always made him a decent clay-court player, and he showed it last week with a run to the final in Hamburg. That, combined with his experience at Grand Slams–including a quarterfinal run here last year\u2014makes him a heavy favorite against Rinky Hijikata, who has never won a match at the French Open.
\nPrediction: Paul in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 2 of the French Open will see 24 men’s singles matches as we get into the meat of the first round. The best in the world will fight for their place in Round 2. And, as always, our writers here at LWOT will share their thoughts on who it will be. We split the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1601,"featured_media":55992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[69],"tags":[12820,42259,10566,15504,15670,15901,6162,2942,13325,17201,6452,16060,91,15553,17113,17114,2941,2373,2369,1635,15665],"class_list":["post-105422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-andrea-pellegrino","tag-andrea-pellegrino-predictions","tag-arthur-rinderknech","tag-arthur-rinderknech-predictions","tag-flavio-cobolli","tag-flavio-cobolli-predictions","tag-french-open-day-2-predictions","tag-french-open-predictions","tag-jiri-lehecka","tag-jiri-lehecka-predictions","tag-jurij-rodionov","tag-jurij-rodionov-predictions","tag-pablo-carreno-busta","tag-pablo-carreno-busta-predictions","tag-rinky-hijikata","tag-rinky-hijikata-predictions","tag-roland-garros-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-tommy-paul","tag-tommy-paul-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105422","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\/1601"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105422"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105507,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105422\/revisions\/105507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}