French Open: Picking the Bottom Half of the First Round

First Round Top Half Picks

Andy Roddick (6) def. Jarkko Nieminen

Roddick finally broke through for his best finish at the French last year (Round of 16). Nieminen hasn't gotten that far at this event since '03.

Eduardo Schwank def. Blaz Kavcic

Schwank's only ever win at a major came at the '08 French, when he reached the third round. Kavcic is playing in only his second Grand Slam after bowing out in the first round at this year's Australian.

Teimuraz Gabashvili def. Daniel Koellerer

Gabashvili won his first-round match at Roland Garros last year, while Koellerer did not.

Juan Monaco (26) def. Grega Zemlja

Monaco is 4-2 in first-round matches at the French. Zemlja is 0-2 at majors.

Jurgen Melzer (22) def. Dudi Sela

Melzer's first-round loss at the Australian this year was his first opening-round exit at a major since '06, which is also the last time he failed to win a match at the French. Sela's a good player, but this isn't his strongest surface.

Mischa Zverev def. Nicolas Mahut

Neither player has won a match at this event, but while Zverev has only had two chances, Mahut has had seven.

Xavier Malisse def. Simon Greul

Neither man has won here in five years, but at least Malisse has won here.

David Ferrer (9) def. David Guez

Ferrer is 7-0 in first-round matches at the French. In fact, he's won his last 18 openers at Grand Slams.

Juan Carlos Ferrero (16) def. Pablo Cuevas

Cuevas beat Ferrero in three sets in Valencia last year, and while the Spaniard hasn't had much success here since winning the event in '03, that only meeting was on hard courts and clay remains the 16 seed's strongest surface.

Marc Gicquel def. Pere Riba

Gicquel reached the third round last year, while Riba is playing in his first major.

Potito Starace def. Illya Marchenko

Starace's best Grand Slam finishes have come at the French, while Marchenko has never played here.

Robby Ginepri def. Sam Querrey (18)

Ginepri beat Querrey in straight sets on the hard courts of Indianapolis last year, and while neither of these Americans have had much success on the red clay of Paris, at least Ginepri reached the fourth round in '08, while Querrey is 0-3 here.

Oscar Hernandez def. Victor Hanescu (31)

Hernandez defeated Hanescu, 7-6, 6-4, at a clay court tournament in Bucharest, Romania last year.

Yuri Schukin def. Rajeev Ram

Neither of these players have ever won a Grand Slam match, nor have they even played a main draw contest at the French, but in qualifying for his first major since '01, Schukin proved that he can win here.

Ram won their only meeting in two tiebreakers at Chennai two years ago, but that was on hard courts.

Santiago Giraldo def. Kei Nishikori

Neither have won at the French, but Giraldo is 11-8 this year, while Nishikori is 0-1.

Novak Djokovic (3) def. Evgeny Korolev

Djokovic crushed Korolev, 6-2, 6-1, on the hard courts of Indian Wells in '07.

Fernando Verdasco (7) def. Igor Kunitsyn

Verdasco beat Kunitsyn in straight sets at the '08 U.S. Open.

Florent Serra def. Michael Russell

Serra has had some moderate success recently at the French, while Russell hasn't won here since a fourth-round run in '01.

Andreas Seppi def. Santiago Ventura

Neither player has had much success here, but Seppi reached the second round last year, while Ventura is 0-3 lifetime.

Philipp Kohlschreiber (30) def. Karol Beck

Kohlschreiber made it to the fourth round last year, while Beck has never won a match in three tries at the French.

Nicolas Almagro (19) def. Robin Haase

Almagro has won his last five first-round matches here, including one that led to a quarterfinal run in '08.

Kristof Vliegen def. Steve Darcis

These two Belgians played three times in non-Tour matches in '05, with Vliegen taking two of them, including a split on clay. I'll give the edge to Vliegen, who has reached the third round here, while Darcis has never won a match.

Arnaud Clement def. Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr.

The Ukrainian has the longer name, but the Frenchman has the longer career.

Fernando Gonzalez (12) def. Thiago Alves

Gonzalez torched Alves, 6-2, 6-2, in a clay event at Vina del Mar in '07.

Ivan Ljubicic (14) def. Yen-Hsun Lu

The '06 semi-finalist should take down Lu, who has an 0-2 record here.

Mardy Fish def. Michael Berrer

Berrer beat Fish in a tight two-setter in Washington three years ago, and then the American returned the favor with a three-set win at Indian Wells earlier this year.

Those were both on hard courts, so I'll give the edge to Fish for his marginally better track record at Roland Garros.

Simone Bolelli def. Pablo Andujar

Bolelli defeated Andujar in straight sets at a non-Tour clay event in Tunis, Tunisia in '07.

Michael Llodra def. Thomaz Bellucci (24)

Bellucci is 0-2 at the French, but Llodra, who just celebrated his 30th birthday last week reached the fourth round in '08.

Lleyton Hewitt (28) def. Jeremy Chardy

Chardy is 3-0 in first-round matches at the French, but Hewitt has reached the third round each of the last nine times he's played here.

Denis Istomin def. Benjamin Becker

Istomin reached the second round in his rookie appearance last year, while Becker is 0-2 in Paris.

Martin Fischer def. Horacio Zeballos

They're both playing in their first French Open, so I'll give the edge to the qualifier, who was winning matches here this past week.

Rafael Nadal (2) def. Gianni Mina

Mina is a 655th-ranked qualifier playing in his first Grand Slam. Nadal is a four-time French Open champion. Let the carnage begin.

Follow me on Twitter at JordanHarrison .

Jordan Schwartz is one of Bleacher Report's New York Yankees and College Basketball Featured Columnists. His book Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and authorhouse.com.

Jordan can be reached at [e-mail]