Tennis
2025-08-26 - Gael Monfils vs Roman Safiullin
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis: US Open First Round
Tuesday 26th August 2025 - Scheduled 6pm
11pm (British Time)
Preview
There may not be too many US Open appearances left in the body, but Gael Monfils will arrive in New York City looking to make a positive impact at the 2025 tournament. He is close to dropping out of the top 50 in the World Rankings and the Frenchman is a week out from turning 39 years old, which will have to make people question what kind of motivation is left.
He may have missed some of the Grand Slam tournaments in recent times, but Gael Monfils will be proud of the fact that he has not lost in the opening Round since the 2021 Australian Open. This year he reached the Fourth Round in Melbourne before Second Round losses in both Slams hosted in Paris and London, while Gael Monfils is a three time Quarter Finalist and one time Semi Finalist in New York City.
On only two occasions has Gael Monfils been beaten in the First Round here and one of those was his first ever main draw appearance at the US Open.
However, the form in the build up to the tournament has been far from impressive and Gael Monfils has lost to two players that he would expect to beat on the hard courts. The latter of those defeats was in a competitive showing, but ultimately he was beaten and confidence to have a deep run at the US Open may simply not be there.
In saying that, Gael Monfils has to feel he can get the better of Roman Safiullin, a player who is clinging onto a top 100 Ranking.
The younger man has not exactly been piling up the wins in the US hard court tournaments leading up to the final Grand Slam of the season and he is just 8-11 on the surface in 2025. The real concern for Roman Safiullin is that he has lost eight of nine matches on the hard courts this season when facing an opponent Ranked higher than himself and that includes on all three occasions he has been in that position over the last few weeks.
Roman Safiullin did push Holger Rune in a defeat and that is respectable form, but losing pretty comfortably in matches against Casper Ruud and Christopher O'Connell are perhaps a better indication of where he is at.
He can serve well and that may be a factor in the match, but Gael Monfils could outlast Roman Safiullin in what is expected to be a decent atmosphere with fans getting behind the veteran. That may be enough to push him through and Monfils could be worth backing in this pick 'em First Round match with the experience seeing the Frenchman win some of the big points to secure the victory.
Prediction
Look for the veteran to find a way to come through this match.
The Pick :
Gael Monfils 3-2 Roman Safiullin
