Tennis News

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Stan Wawrinka launches his bid on Tuesday to become the first man since Andre Agassi in 1999 to claim the Paris double – the Roland Garros and BNP Paribas Masters titles – in the same season. The Swiss, currently at No. 4 in the ATP Emirates Race To London, faces a difficult opener against Australian Bernard Tomic and will be looking to bounce back from an opening-round defeat to Ivo Karlovic in Basel last week. Tomic, at a career-high ranking of No. 18, has won the pair’s only prior FedEx ATP Head2Head showdown four years ago in a Davis Cup tie in Sydney and comes off a straight-sets victory over Fabio Fognini in the first round.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic also headlines Day 2 action. The three-time champion returns to Paris with winning streaks of 17 matches and 22 sets, as well as a run of 13 consecutive finals since he fell in the Doha quarter-finals to begin his 2015 campaign. He opens against Brazilian lefty Thomaz Bellucci, who put out Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili in his opening match. Djokovic owns a 16-0 record against left-handers this season (76-30 overall) and is aiming to become the first player to win six ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in a season. He has never lost to Bellucci in four previous encounters.

The 2012 Paris champion David Ferrer takes on Alexandr Dolgopolov, who downed Jiri Vesely first up. He will carry a 7-2 record against the Ukrainian into the match. The No. 2 Spaniard has won five titles this season and despite missing Wimbledon and ATP Masters 1000 events at Montreal and Cincinnati with a right elbow injury, has bounced back strong winning his 25^th title in Kuala Lumpur, reaching the final in Beijing before defeating Steve Johnson to win the Vienna title last week.

No. 14 seed Gilles Simon faces fellow Frenchman Benoit Paire. Simon is 10-1 against countrymen in 2015, but Paire is coming off a comeback from 6-2, 4-0 down against two-time finalist Gael Monfils. Paire has risen to No. 23 in the world from a year-end ranking of No. 118 in 2014 and has become the first player since Steve Darcis in 2007 to win a Futures, Challenger and ATP World Tour title in the same season. He won his first ATP World Tour title without dropping a set at Bastad in July. The pair has split their six meetings.

French qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin will look to level a 2-1 losing record against big-serving Karlovic in his first-round match. The 36-year-old Karlovic – the oldest player in the Top 20 since Jimmy Connors in 1990 – is looking for his 300^th career victory against Roger-Vasselin and comes off an impressive first-round upset of Wawrinka in Basel last week.

World No. 25 Jack Sock and Serb Viktor Troicki will square off for the first time. The No. 2 American has reached two finals this season, winning the title in Houston and falling in Stockholm to Tomas Berdych. Troicki started his season winning the title in Sydney.

Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut arrives in Paris in form after reaching back-to-back finals in Moscow (l. to Marin Cilic) and Valencia last week where he lost to Sousa after saving six match points in his semi-final win over Johnson. The No. 4 Spaniard begins against wildcard Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

In other first-round singles matches, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco will take on rising Croat Borna Coric for the first time, while Czech Lukas Rosol will aim to level a losing 2-1 record against another Spaniard Guilermo Garcia-Lopez. An exciting doubles lineup is also part of Tuesday’s schedule, with US Open champions Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, as well as Top-6 singles players Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych and Rafael Nadal all in action.

Two of the ATP World Tour’s rising stars reached the second round of the BNP Paribas Masters on Monday in Paris as Dominic Thiem and Bernard Tomic both enjoyed victories. Both Thiem and Tomic are nominated for the ATP Most Improved Player of the Year.

World No. 19 Thiem finished strongly to defeat home hope Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in one hour and 52 minutes. The 22-year-old Austrian claimed his 36^th win of the season as he broke serve four times and saved five of the six break points he faced at the Palais Omnisports. He goes on to face 11^th seed Kevin Anderson in the second round.

Bernard Tomic set a clash with fourth seed Stan Wawrinka as he dismissed Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-2 in 56 minutes. The Australian is at a career-high World No. 18 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after compiling a 40-26 mark in 2015, highlighted by capturing his third ATP World Tour title in Bogota (d. Mannarino).

Eighth seed David Ferrer will open his campaign against Alexandr Dolgopolov, who defeated Jiri Vesely 6-3, 7-6(6) in 81 minutes. Meanwhile, Andreas Seppi will take on last week’s Basel champion, Roger Federer, after beating Pablo Cuevas 7-5, 6-3, and Thomaz Bellucci will challenge World No. 1 Novak Djokovic after dismissing Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-4.

Grigor Dimitrov never faced a break point in downing Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and seven minutes, totaling six aces with one double fault.

Also advancing on Monday in Paris were qualifier Dusan Lajovic (d. Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 6-3) and Aljaz Bedene (d. Marcel Granollers 7-5, 7-6(4).

Doubles Report: Nestor In Record Territory

In doubles, Czechs Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek rallied to defeat Frenchmen Fabrice Martin and Lucas Pouille 3-6, 6-0, 10-4.

The tandems of Daniel Nestor/Edouard Roger-Vasselin (d. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez/David Merrero 6-4, 6-2) and Aisam-Ul-Haq Quershi/Giles Simon (d. Bellucci/Viktor Troicki 7-5, 7-6(3) are also into the second round.

Nestor is closing in on a historic milestone. The 43-year-old Canadian is now within one win of becoming the first player in the Open Era to register 1,000 career doubles match wins. Since teaming up with Roger-Vasselin in Montreal for the first time, they have compiled an 18-5 record. Nestor is playing in Paris for the 21^st consecutive year, and he has a 34-19 match record. He won the title in 2009 with Nenad Zimonjic, and reached the final in 2000 with Paul Haarhuis, 2005 with Mark Knowles and 2007 with Zimonjic.

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