Stan Wawrinka vs Thanasi Kokkinakis Prediction and Odds: French Open 2023

In a pretty evenly matched second-round clash at the French Open 2023, the dangerous world number 107 Thanasi Kokkinakis faces veteran and world number 89 Stan Wawrinka. We give you our preview of this match as well as some free betting tips.

Kokkinakis to Win

Despite being ranked outside the world’s top 100 Kokkinakis is enjoying a decent 2023 so far and we back him to cause a minor upset in round 2 with a win against an ex-Roland Garros champion. Veteran Wawrinka needed over 4 and a half hours in round 1. He is far past his best years and we don’t think he will have much in the tank against the aggressive Aussie who breezed past the seeded Evans in round 1 without dropping a set.

Kokkinakis is in much better physical shape based on his most recent showings and we really think that over 5 sets he should have a decisive edge against the labouring all-season veteran Wawrinka.

Set 1 After 2 Games – 1-1

Stan Wawrinka needed 4 hours and 35 minutes in round 1 to eventually edge Ramos-Vinolas 6-4 in the 5th set of their epic battle. The times when Stan was dominating on the courts of Roland Garros are long gone now and the 38-year-old veteran is playing in many Challenger tournaments these days as his career is coming to its zenith.

Still, the ex-champion Wawrinka has lots of experience and this helps him to achieve some impressive wins. He already beat a top-10 player in Rune this year but this was over 2 sets and with his fitness in decline Wawrinka will find it hard to recover for another 5-setter after the huge effort he put in to progress past round 1 of the French Open.

Kokkinakis started the year very well. He reached the semifinals in Adelaide beating the world number 6 Rublev and another top 30 player on the way. He also went past round 1 at the Australian Open with a 3-0 win vs the veteran Fognini. Then in round 2, he blew away a 2-set lead against Andy Murray to crash out in a dramatic 5-set battle.

Kokkinakis then went on to win his only title so far in 2023 at the Challenger in Manama, Bahrain. Kokkinakis continued to play competitive tennis on all surfaces after that and made the main draws of all the Masters he entered. The Aussie comes into this tournament full of confidence though as he’s on the rise this year. He showed that with an impressive 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win in round 1 against the 20th seed Dan Evans.