The last Masters 1000 of the season opened Monday October 28 in Paris. For its last edition at the Accor Arena in Bercy, before moving to Paris-La Défense Arena (Nanterre) next year, the famous French tournament launched its first matches. A first day which smiled on Ugo Humbert, French number 1, Arthur Rinderknech and Adrian Mannarino.
Adrian Mannarino knocks down outsider Tommy Paul
He was not at all favorite, but Adrian Mannarino defied the predictions. Facing the number 11 seed, Tommy Paul, still mathematically a contender for the end-of-season Masters, the Frenchman (58th in the world) won in two sets (6-3, 7-5) and 1h42 of play It must be said that opposite, the American was far from his best level. Taking advantage of Tommy Paul's excitement on his service games in the first set, Mannarino broke him for the first time in the third game, before doing it again while leading 5-3 to win the first set. Less linear, the second round ended up having the same outcome.
In the 2nd round, “Manna” could find another Frenchman, in this case Richard Gasquet (133rd in the world). The 38-year-old veteran, who is participating for the 17th and last time in the tournament, must still overcome the Zizou Bergs obstacle (65th). The meeting, scheduled for the third rotation on Tuesday, will be broadcast live and in full on france.tv.
Ugo Humbert and Stefanos Tsitsipas qualified in pain
French number 1 Ugo Humbert, 18th player in the world, qualified on Monday for the 2nd round of the Masters 1000 in Paris thanks to his 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory against the American Brandon Nakashima (35th). Winner after a fight lasting more than two hours, Messin will challenge in the second round the other American Marcos Giron (49th), who beat the Chinese Shang Juncheng on Monday, from qualifying. Already defeating Nakashima at Wimbledon (grass) then in Tokyo (hard, outdoor) earlier in the year, Ugo Humbert scored a third victory against the American on Monday, this time indoors.
1st round: the summary of the match Ugo Humbert vs Brandon NakashimaNakashima and qualifies for the 2nd round_copy
Relive the best moments of the match between Frenchman Ugo Humbert and American Brandon Nakashima during the 1st round of the Rolex Paris Masters 2024.
“It doesn’t matter”commented the Frenchman at a press conference. “I like winning this kind of match, when (…) I'm not playing my best tennis. When you play well, it's easy, but here, I managed to win even being a little less GOOD”he was satisfied. In the event of victory in the second round, Ugo Humbert could find world number 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the round of 16. “I’m going to stop planning, I’m going to try to win this next match” before thinking about what comes next, tempered the tricolor number 1.
At the start of the evening, the 11th player in the world Stefanos Tsitipas had to work hard to overcome the Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena (54th), finally beaten in three sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-3). Semi-finalist at Bercy in 2022 and 2023, headliner of this first day, the Greek will play his 2nd round against the Portuguese Nuno Borges (34th) or the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo (22nd).
Arthur Rinderknech to get the ball rolling, Quentin Halys falls by the wayside
The first player to take the court in the tournament, Arthur Rinderknech (61st in the world) started the competition well against Tomas Machac. In a contested first set, the 42nd in the world gave up the tie-break to his opponent. In reaction, the Frenchman immediately took the Czech's serve, who however quickly came back to score. But ankle pain disrupted Machac at the end of the set, ultimately forcing him to retire (7-6, 5-3). Arthur Rinderknech advances for the first time in his career to the second round of the Bercy tournament, where he will face the winner of the duel between Alex Michelsen and Hubert Hurkacz on Wednesday.
Coming from the qualifications, Quentin Halys (90th) failed to create a surprise against Francisco Cerundolo (30th), who won in two sets (7-6, 6-3). Eighth finalist last year, the Argentinian was solid on his serve and very effective on break points, converting his two opportunities. The Frenchman, for his part, only managed to convert one of his three break points. Insufficient to sign an exploit against Francisco Cerundolo who will have a hard time facing Andrey Rublev (6th) in the next round.
