World No. 8 Casper Ruud will try to reach the first grand slam final of his career when he takes on the resurgent Marin Cilic on Friday in a semifinal match of the 2022 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris. Prior to this tournament, the 23-year-old Ruud had never even reached a quarterfinal in a grand slam; his previous best performance came in the Australian Open in 2021 when he reached the fourth round. To reach the final, Ruud will have to knock off Cilic, the former No. 3 player in the world, who has reached a grand slam semifinal for the first time since the 2018 Australian Open.
Ruud is a -230 favorite (risk $230 to win $100) in the latest Ruud vs. Cilic odds from Caesars Sportsbook, while Cilic is a +175 underdog. The over-under for total games is 38.5. The match will begin at approximately 11:30 a.m. ET. Before making any 2022 French Open picks, be sure to see the latest tennis predictions from SportsLine's Sean Calvert.
Calvert is the handicapper who called Stan Wawrinka winning the 2014 Australian Open at 60-1. In the Miami Open in 2018, he did even better, correctly calling 100-1 long shot John Isner to win the title. And in 2019, Calvert took down a huge score on Dominic Thiem winning Indian Wells at 80-1. Anyone following his picks is way up.
Now, Calvert has locked in on this 2022 French Open men's semifinal matchup and locked in his Cilic vs. Ruud picks. Head to SportsLine to see them.
Casper Ruud vs. Marin Cilic preview
Expectations have been high for Ruud ever since he was the No. 1-ranked junior in the world. Since turning pro in 2015, he has been on a steady climb, and last year was his best season yet. He earned a career-high 57 wins and five tournament titles and ended the year ranked No. 8, a personal best. This year he is 29-9 with two tournament titles.
Ruud has won both career meetings against Cilic. In 2020, the two met in the round of 16 on the clay in Rome, and Ruud won 6-2, 7-6. And last year they played in the round of 32 on the hard court in Canada, and Ruud prevailed, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Meanwhile the 33-year-old Cilic has rediscovered the form that once brought him to No. 3 in the world, in 2018. With his victory on Wednesday, he became just the fifth active men's player to reach the semifinals at each of the four grand slam tournaments. On Friday he will try to make his fourth grand slam final.
Cilic has reached the semifinals behind his electric serve. This year on Tour, Cilic has won 79.4 percent of his first serve points, which ranks fourth on the Tour. In Wednesday's quarterfinal win over Andrey Rublev, he banged out 33 aces (more than double Rublev's total) while double faulting just twice.
How to make Cilic vs. Ruud picks
Calvert is leaning over on the game total, and he's locked in a pair of best bets, both of which return more than 6-1. Be sure to see Calvert's picks and analysis at SportsLine before making your French Open 2022 picks for the men's semifinal.
Who wins Ruud vs. Cilic in the 2022 French Open men's semifinal? And which props that bring a huge return should you be all over? Visit SportsLine now to see Sean Calvert's best bets for Cilic vs. Ruud, all from the tennis handicapper with a history of making big calls.
