BNP Paribas Masters – The last regular tournament of the year

Written by: Global Chick on 8th November 2011

BNP Paribas Masters – The last regular tournament of the year

CAPTION CORRECTION: CORRECTING NATIONALITY OF ADRIAN MANNARINO IN MCX097, MCX098 and MCX099 TO FRANCE. Florian Mayer of Germany hits a return to Adrian Mannarino of France during their first round match on the second day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 30 August 2011. The US Open runs through 11 September 2011. EPA/JASON SZENES |

Last week’s Basel Champion Roger Federer will face Adrian Mannarino of France in his first round at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Federer is seeded No. 3 and therefore has a bye in the first round. Mannarino had an easy win over Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-2 6-2 on Monday.

Former Top 10 Fernando Verdasco put down the World No. 23 Marin Cilic 3-6 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with the number five seed Tomas Berdych in the second round. “It’s the last tournament of the year, and I just want to finish the year in the best way as possible. I’ve been practising maybe two hours on court and then maybe another two hours in the gym,” Verdasco said. Berdych is in need of as many points as possible this week to secure his London spot. The competition for the last three spots for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals will be very close.

The number seven seed Mardy Fish’s next opponent will be Florian Mayer. The German had a handy win over Czech player Radek Stepanek 7-5 6-3. Mayer is currently ranked No. 22 and is a very tricky player to beat because of his playing style, he uses double handed grips on both sides.

South African Kevin Anderson won in a hard fought three sets match against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-3 4-6 6-4. The big serving World No. 33 is currently ranked number four on the ace count for the year with 693 aces hit in 67 matches. Anderson is now up against Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the next round.

The French players love to play at home at the end of the year. Wildcard Julien Benneteau won in three sets over Canadian powerhouse Milos Raonic 6-7 (5) 7-6 (5) 6-4. Benneteau is facing a tough task next with Andy Roddick on the other side of the net.

Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany showed off his best tennis on Monday defeating former world number eight Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-2. The German faces the No. 14 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov next.

World No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will clash with Guillermo Garcia-Lopex of Spain. Garcia Lopez and Santiago Giraldo battled for three sets before Garcia-Lopez came up with the goods and win 6-4 1-6 6-4.

Hometown qualifier Nicolas Mahut started his main draw campaign off on Monday with a great win over former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2 6-3. Mahut will play against World No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain on Wednesday.