BNP Paribas Masters Paris – By Richard Evans

Written by: Staff on 29th October 2013

BNP Paribas 2013 Masters Tennis Tournament

BNP Paribas Masters Paris - By Richard Evans

epa03929043 Richard Gasquet of France returns the ball to Fernando Verdasco of Spain during their second round match at the BNP Paribas 2013 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 29 October 2013. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

This is the week on the tennis tour for computer nerds, statisticians and puzzle solvers. It is the week when conjecture has to give way to fact; when the final eight players who qualify for the ATP World Finals in London next week will be irrevocably revealed.

Mathematically, eight players were still in contention for the three places that remained up for grabs – realistically four of them could only dream.

By the end of the second day’s play in this ATP Masters 1000 event played at a vast indoor arena on the banks of the Seine, two Frenchman were left with very different emotions. Richard Gasquet, who was holding down the last available place at the start of the week, came through a tough duel with an old rival, the Spanish left hander Fernando Verdasco, winning 7-5, 6-7, 6-3.

But his good friend and prime rival for that spot in London, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, lost agonizingly (both mentally and physically) to Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the third set breaker, going down 6-1, 6-7, 7-6. Had the big man won, he would have played Gasquet on Thursday in what would have been a straight shoot out for the Finals.

However there would have been a question mark over Tsonga’s ability to play that match had he won. He was cramping by the end of this 2 hr 11 minute battle and admitted “I’m not fit enough.”

Tsonga, who was also suffering from pain in his knee, added, “I chose to play but my physio was saying that, normally, I shouldn’t even be here. But I really wanted to do my best. I think the cramps came on because I was perspiring a lot and there was a lot of tension because of the situation.”

And it showed. Tsonga missed two match points in the breaker, one of them when he threw in a double fault.

Nishikori, who was pressing for a place in London himself when he rose to No 11 back in June, did not help the French cause by playing some inspired tennis at the end, throwing in a second serve ace before closing it out 9-7.

So it looks as if two Swiss will join Gasquet at the 02 Arena in the Docklands. Roger Federer just needs to win his match against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson on Wednesday to assume his regular place at the elite table while Stan Wawrinka could join him for the first time if he beats the Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez.

As the for the outsiders, Canada’s Milos Raonic has to reach the final here to qualify while Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Haas would need to win the tournament. Another contender, Mikhail Youzhny, fell by the way side when he was forced to retire injured in the third set against Anderson.

The crowd were given a treat late in the evening when a 22-year-old newcomer called Pierre-Huges Herbert served brilliantly against Novak Djokovic and actually reached two set points on the Serb’s serve at the end of the first set. But his returns let him down and the world No 2 eventually defeated the world No 189 7-6, 6-3.

However Herbert, who comes from the Alsace region of South-East France, proved how quickly he was adapting to a big match atmosphere by breaking back from 0-5 in the second set before Djokovic closed it out. It was only the second ATP tour level event Herbert had ever played but it won’t be his last.

Djokovic had kind words for the young man at the end and afterwards he admitted that Herbert’s serving had caught him by surprise.

“He has one of the most precise serves I have ever faced,” Djokovic said. “The balls are very fast which made it difficult but he was serving near 80% first serves in the first set, with aces and great placement. That made it very tough to break but I think he has a great future. He’s very talented.”

Topics: Bercy Master, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Kei Nishikori, Paris 1000, Richard Evans, Richard Gasquet, Stan Wawrinka

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October 29, 2013 at 5:09 pm

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