Key keywords: Roland Garros 2024 Day 2, Ricky's tennis picks, Andrey Rublev vs Enrico Dalla Buse, French Open first round previews, clay court Grand Slam predictions, men's singles Grand Slam odds, 2024 French Open expert picks, red clay tennis match analysis As one of the most trusted independent tennis pundits covering the ATP and WTA tours, Ricky’s annual Roland Garros daily pick series has become a go-to resource for casual fans and sports bettors alike ahead of each day’s play, and his 2024 Day 2 lineup is headlined by the highly anticipated first-round clash between 5th seed Andrey Rublev and Italian qualifier Enrico Dalla Buse. Rublev heads into this year’s French Open in the best clay-court form of his career, coming off his first ever Masters 1000 title at Monte Carlo earlier this spring and a semi-final run at the Rome Masters just two weeks ago. The Russian’s ferocious forehand and improved lateral movement on red clay have silenced many critics who once wrote him off as a hard-court specialist, and Ricky notes that his mental toughness has also taken a clear leap forward this season, after years of repeatedly falling short in Grand Slam quarterfinal matchups. For 26-year-old Dalla Buse, the match marks his first ever appearance in a Grand Slam main draw, after he fought through three tough qualifying matches last week, dropping only one set across the entire qualifying run. The Italian left-hander has spent most of his career on the ATP Challenger Tour, where he has built a reputation as a scrappy clay-court competitor with a solid serve and sharp cross-court backhand. But Ricky points out that the gulf in experience between the two players is impossible to ignore: Dalla Buse has never faced a top 10 opponent in his professional career, and the pressure of playing on a Grand Slam show court in front of thousands of fans is likely to lead to clusters of unforced errors early in the match. Ricky’s official pick for the Rublev vs Buse matchup is Rublev winning in straight sets, with a predicted scoreline of 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Beyond the headliner, Ricky’s Day 2 picks also include predictions for 10 other first-round matches across men’s and women’s singles. For the women’s draw, Ricky is backing 3rd seed Coco Gauff to beat Russian qualifier Erika Andreeva in straight sets, noting that Gauff’s defensive speed and counterpunching skills on clay are perfectly suited to handle Andreeva’s aggressive baseline play. He is also picking 6th seed Ons Jabeur to beat French wildcard Alice Robbe in two tight sets, acknowledging that Robbe will have the vocal support of the home crowd but arguing that Jabeur’s Grand Slam big-match experience will carry her through in the key deuce and tiebreak moments. On the men’s side, Ricky is predicting a mild upset win for American qualifier Brandon Nakashima over 22nd seed Sebastian Baez, pointing out that Nakashima has had a stellar clay-court season on the Challenger Tour and Baez has struggled with noticeable inconsistency since his win at the Córdoba Open earlier this year. All of Ricky’s picks are based on a weighted combination of recent form, head-to-head records, surface-specific performance stats, and intangible factors like crowd support and injury history, making them far more reliable than generic odds-based predictions for casual fans and bettors.