Marat Safin def. Jean-Rene Lisnard
Safin usually plays well enough at the French to at least beat a qualifier in the first round.
Diego Junqueira def. Adrian Mannarino
Neither has played a main draw match this year, so I’ll go with the qualifier.
Ivan Ljubicic (28) def. Eric Prodon
The Croatian was a semi-finalist two years ago, while the Frenchman has never won a match here in two tries.
Juan Carlos Ferrero (23) def. Marcos Daniel
The 2003 champ has never lost in the first round at the French Open.
Jurgen Melzer def. Peter Luczak
Melzer has had some moderate success in the past here, while Luczak has never won a match.
Gael Monfils def. Arnaud Clement
This is a match-up between two Frenchmen going in opposite directions. The younger Monfils has reached at least the third round the past two years, while the older Clement has won just one match here since 2003.
Scoville Jenkins def. Luis Horna
I wanted to take Jenkins over the 14th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but after Tsonga pulled out due to an injury and was replaced by Horna, my Jenkins pick is less impressive.
Tommy Robredo (12) vs. Guillermo Coria
The 2004 runner-up has dropped to 733rd in the world and hasn’t played a Grand Slam event since the ’06 US Open. Coria beat Robredo on clay three times between 2001 and 2004, but that was a lifetime ago. I’ll take the three time quarter finalist this time but it may be a lot closer than people think.
Marc Gicquel def. Viktor Troicki
There’s not a lot of experience in this one. Troicki has never played here and Gicquel has gotten out of the first round just once. That’s enough for me.
Jesse Huta Galung def. Jiri Vanek
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