The first round of men’s action at the 2014 French Open concludes on Tuesday with matches featuring two home hopes and the notorious Dr. Ace.

Bernard Tomic v. Richard Gasquet

This opening round match could get interesting. Richard Gasquet, who recently said that he wouldn’t be competing in this tournament if it wasn’t the French Open, will be taking on Bernard Tomic, who is notorious for his lack of competitiveness.

Gasquet has been dealing with a lingering back injury and has not seen the court since losing to Roger Federer in Miami. Likewise, Tomic has played only five matches after retiring from his first-round match against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open with a hip injury that later required surgery.

Gasquet leads the head-to-head 3-1, although Tomic won their only meeting in a Grand Slam last year at Wimbledon. This will be their first match contested on clay. Tomic enters the French Open with a 13-18 record in tour level matches on clay. By contrast, Gasquet will be seeking his 100th career tour-level victory on clay tomorrow.

Stylistically speaking, Tomic’s game is not well designed for clay. The Aussie hits a particularly flat ball off both sides on the ground, and his variety isn’t rewarded as much on clay as it is on grass courts and hard courts. In addition, patience isn’t one of Tomic’s forays, and his propensity to bail out of rallies will do him no favors on clay.

Gasquet’s capacity to place high quantities of spin on the ball and his tendency to position himself well behind the baseline in a majority of rallies allows him to beat opponents with dogged consistency. Look for the Frenchman to make Tomic play a lot of balls out of his strike zone and force him into attempting high-risk shots.

If Gasquet wasn’t injured, this would be a pretty easy match to pick, but the status of his back makes this a tossup.

Prediction: Tomic in five sets

Grigor Dimitrov v. Ivo Karlovic

Ivo Karlovic’s booming serve will face a massive test tomorrow as the Croatian takes on Grigor Dimitrov. Karlovic will be looking to avenge his second-round loss to Dimitrov just two short weeks ago in Rome.

Karlovic comes into the French Open on the back of a wonderful week in Dusseldorf, where he reached the final before losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber. Dimitrov most recently played in Rome, where he beat Tomas Berdych and Tommy Haas on his way to the semifinals before losing to Rafael Nadal.

Karlovic’s best chance in this match is for Dimitrov to throw in a series of poor service games and to extract as much value from these games as possible. Any extended rally will clearly favor Dimitrov, so expect Karlovic to serve and volley and take significant risks early in rallies.

The key for Dimitrov in this match will be to get his racket on as many serves as possible to make Karlovic beat him from the ground and at the net. Dimitrov knows Karlovic is most vulnerable on clay because the surface reduces the effectiveness of his serve.

Prediction: Dimitrov in four sets

Fernando Verdasco vs. Michael Llodra

With Stanislas Wawrinka eliminated and Andy Murray the highest seed remaining in his section of the draw, Fernando Verdasco may well be on his way to reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal since 2009. He also may well be on his way to a first-round exit. With Verdasco, anything could happen.

He opens his 2014 French Open against Frenchman Michael Llodra, a player whose skills will be better utilized next month at Wimbledon. Llodra and Verdasco have squared off on five separate occasions with Verdasco winning three of the five. This will be their second match on clay, Verdasco winning their only previous encounter all the way back in 2008. 

Llodra has lost his last three matches and has only won one tour-level main-draw match on clay this spring. Verdasco’s clay season has been exponentially more successful. The Spaniard has only suffered one opening defeat in his last four tournaments. Most importantly for Verdasco, he snapped his four-year title drought in Houston, where he took down countryman Nicolas Almagro in the final.

Llodra, like Karlovic, is one of the small group of players who still serve and volley from time to time. Against Verdasco, any attempt to engage in protracted baseline rallies will in all likelihood prove futile, thus requiring a constant attack on the net from the Frenchman.

Llodra loves to use his sliding lefty serve out wide on the ad-side, but against a fellow lefty this tactic is far less effective. Verdasco’s heavy inside-out forehand into Llodra’s one-handed backhand will also give the Frenchman fits and make it increasingly difficult to take the ball early and move forward.

Prediction: Verdasco in three sets