French Open accumulator: Simon to send Hewitt home in 11/1 seven-fold

Some of the prices are not overly stingy on the big guns in the first round of the men’s draw at the French Open, but we have declined against putting the likes of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in our accumulator.

Meanwhile, after much deliberation, some capable outsiders have also been left out, notably Nicolas Mahut to beat eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic, who has been struggling for form on clay heading into this tournament.

However, seven odds-on shots make up our accumulator, which pays out at 11/1 and is led by home hope Gilles Simon and Nikolay Davydenko.

Simon has reached at least the third round in his last three appearances at Roland Garros and counts clay as his most favoured surface.

This is the polar opposite of opponent Lleyton Hewitt, who is least at home on clay and was recently beaten on the surface by little-known Argentine Martin Alund.

Davydenko is another lofty fancy, having won his last five matches with Florent Serra, a run which includes three straight-set successes on clay.

Like Simon, Benoit Paire is another Frenchman expected to make it to round two as he arrives off the back of a semi-final appearance at the recent Rome Masters where he beat the likes of Juan Martin del Potro and Juan Monaco along the way.

Marcos Baghdatis can be the next scalp, with the Cypriot failing to even win a set on clay so far in 2013.

Another player arriving in form is the big-serving Jerzy Janowicz, who holds victories over Richard Gasquet and Tsonga in 2013.

Spain’s Albert Ramos is his opponent and should lack the real weapons to derail the Pole.

Elsewhere, we have picked Robin Haase to defeat Kenny De Schepper for the second time this year, Horacio Zeballos to return to the clay form of late last year that saw him secure back-to-back tournaments with a win over Canada’s Vasek Pospisil and Ivan Dodig to progress past Guido Pella.

Men’s round one accumulator selections

Gilles Simon to beat Lleyton Hewitt @ 2/9
Nikolay Davydenko to beat Florent Serra @ 2/9
Benoit Paire to beat Marcos Baghdatis @ 2/7
Robin Haase to beat Kenny De Schepper @ 1/3
Ivan Dodig to beat Guido Pella @ 8/15
Horacio Zeballos to beat Vasek Pospisil @ 4/7
Jerzy Janowicz to beat Albert Ramos @ 4/5

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publication