Dominic Thiem extended his winning streak to six matches on Wednesday as he began his bid to capture the Rolex Paris Masters title.

The fifth-seeded Austrian, straight off lifting an ATP Tour-best fifth trophy this year at the Erste Bank Open (d. Schwartzman), battled hard to beat Milos Raonic 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-4 over two hours and 38 minutes.

Nitto ATP Finals qualifier Thiem, who has won two of his past three tournaments, withstood 54 winners — including 30 aces — from Raonic and goes on to face Belgian No. 12 seed David Goffin or Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the third round on Thursday.

Thiem recovered from a 1/3 deficit with six straight points in the first-set tie-break, which ended with the 26-year-old forcing Raonic into a backhand error. Raonic saved three break points at 4-4 in the second set and later capitalised at the net with a backhand volley to level the scoreline.

Three forehand errors by Raonic at 4-4 in the deciding set handed Thiem his first service break. Minutes later, the Austrian finished with a forehand winner to close out his 46th match win of a career-best ATP Tour season, which will conclude with a season finale appearance at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.

There are few things that Rafael Nadal hasn’t done in his career, but one of them is win the Rolex Paris Masters. The second seed begins his quest for a maiden crown at the AccorHotels Arena on Wednesday when he faces home favourite Adrian Mannarino, while top-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic starts his week against #NextGenATP Frenchman Corentin Moutet.

Wednesday’s schedule also kicks off the battle for year-end No. 1 between Djokovic and Nadal. If the Spaniard lifts the title in Paris, he’ll finish as year-end No. 1 for the fifth time. Meanwhile, Djokovic is seeking a record-tying sixth year-end finish atop the ATP Rankings.

“I prefer to be No. 1 to No. 2, and No. 2 to No. 3.,” Nadal said. “Of course, finishing the year [as] World No. 1 is something special and I would love to make that happen.”

Nadal has plenty of positive memories in the City of Lights with his historic success at Roland Garros. And while he’s never prevailed at the last ATP Masters 1000 event of the season, he still sports an impressive 16-5 record and has never lost before the quarter-finals.

“If it’s not good luck that I won 12 times in Roland Garros, it’s not bad luck that I never won here,” Nadal said. “I missed this tournament a lot of times in my career. Other times I didn’t play well and other times opponents have been better than me.”

Djokovic has never had issues bringing his best tennis in Bercy. The four-time champion holds a 32-8 record at this event and has reached the final in four of his past five appearances. The Serbian trails Nadal by 1,280 points in the ATP Race to London, which acts as a barometer for who will finish the year at No. 1, but the 1,000 points on offer for the winner this week would help Djokovic close the gap.

“He’s in a much better position, but I hope I can do well in this tournament. I’ve historically played really well indoors in Paris and also [Nitto ATP Finals in] London, but it doesn’t depend on me.” Djokovic said. “I cannot really focus too much on what he is doing or other players. I’ll try to get the most out of my performances and see where it takes me.”

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Italian Matteo Berrettini, who made his debut inside the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings this week, closes out the night session against 2008 champion and home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The No. 10 seed looks to grab one of the two remaining spots for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Berrettini is eighth in the Race with 2,660 points and will secure his maiden appearance at The O2 if he reaches the final in Paris.

Several other London hopefuls are also in action, including ninth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 11 seed Fabio Fognini, 12 seed David Goffin and No. 13 seed Gael Monfils. All of them would secure their place at the season-ending championships by winning the title this week. Bautista Agut faces #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur in a knockout match for London, with De Minaur needing to win the title this week to have a chance at qualifying.

Diego Schwartzman, the No. 14 seed, joins No. 15 seed John Isner and No. 16 seed Stan Wawrinka as they continue their pursuits for London. Schwartzman needs to reach the final this week in order to have a shot at qualifying, while Wawrinka and Isner must take the title.

Other notable matches on Wednesday include fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem taking on Canadian Milos Raonic and seventh-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas squaring off with American Taylor Fritz.

ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY 30 October 2019
COURT CENTRAL start 11:00 am
[5] Dominic Thiem (AUT) vs Milos Raonic (CAN)
[7] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs Taylor Fritz (USA)
[13] Gael Monfils (FRA) vs Benoit Paire (FRA)
[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs [LL] Corentin Moutet (FRA)

Not Before 7:30 pm
[2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs [WC] Adrian Mannarino (FRA)
[10] Matteo Berrettini (ITA) vs [WC] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)

Court 1 start 11:00 am
[2] Marcel Granollers (ESP) / Horacio Zeballos (ARG) vs Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) / Horia Tecau (ROU)
[11] Fabio Fognini vs Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
[12] David Goffin (BEL) vs Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)
[16] Stan Wawrinka (SUI) vs Marin Cilic (CRO)
[14] Diego Schwartzman (ARG) vs Kyle Edmund (GBR)
Rajeev Ram (USA) / Joe Salisbury (GBR) vs Robin Haase (NED) / Wesley Koolhof (NED)

Click here to view the rest of Wednesday’s schedule

Eighth seeds Ivan Dodig/Filip Polasek saved a set point en route to their 7-6(2), 7-6(4) first-round victory over Sander Gille/Joran Vliegen on Tuesday at the Rolex Paris Masters, keeping them in contention to clinch the last remaining team berth at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

Dodig/Polasek erased the set point at 5-6 in the second set before prevailing in one hour and 40 minutes. The pair are ninth in the ATP Race to London and will appear at The O2 from 10-17 November if they can reach the final in Paris.

Divij Sharan/Artem Sitak arrived in the draw as alternates, but made the most of their chance by defeating fourth seeds Mate Pavic/Bruno Soares 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-3. They’ll face Roland Garros finalists Jeremy Chardy/Fabrice Martin in the next round.

Karen Khachanov/Andrey Rublev outlasted Stefanos Tsitsipas/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 and Marin Cilic/Pablo Cuevas took out Alex de Minaur/Taylor Fritz 7-6(3), 6-3. Seventh seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut advanced via walkover against Adrian Mannarino/Gilles Simon when Simon withdrew due to a leg injury.

Rafael Nadal returns to main draw action on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters for the first time since winning the US Open title and also, for the first time as a newlywed. The 33-year-old Spaniard married longtime girlfriend Maria Francisca Perello on 19 October in Mallorca.

“The wedding had been a great day for me, for my wife, I think for the guests, too – for all the people that shared this special day with all of us,” said Nadal, ahead of his Paris opener. “It was a great party. I’ve been with my girlfriend for 15 years, so nothing’s changed in my normal life. Just was the moment to do it and we made it happen.”

The Spaniard could be celebrating another big milestone this week in Paris. Should Nadal win his first title at this ATP Masters 1000 tournament, he would clinch the year-end No. 1 ATP Ranking for the fifth time.

“Happy to be back here in Paris,” said Nadal, who has won a record 12 titles at Roland Garros. “As everybody knows, it’s the most important city in my tennis career without a doubt, even if I’ve never won here in Bercy.”

The World No. 2 begins his Rolex Paris Masters campaign on Wednesday evening against French wild card Adrian Mannarino.

Alexander Zverev is one step closer to returning to the Nitto ATP Finals. The sixth seed breezed past Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the third round of the Rolex Paris Masters.

Zverev added 90 points to his ATP Race To London tally and is currently in seventh place with 2,945 points. The 22-year-old will guarantee his place at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London, for a third consecutive year if he makes the Paris final.

Zverev raced through the opening set, breaking Verdasco twice and saving both break points faced to wrap it up in only 26 minutes. The 6’6” right-hander was dominant on serve in the second as well. He won 87 per cent of his service points (33/38) for the match.

The German will next meet Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Denis Shapovalov or fellow Nitto ATP Finals hopeful Fabio Fognini in the third round.

France’s Jeremy Chardy pulled off one of the biggest upsets of his career – and of the 2019 season – on Tuesday, knocking out World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The big-hitting Chardy broke during a 13-point seventh game in the third set and fought off nerves to serve out the win in front of a roaring partisan crowd.

“It’s a beautiful victory,” said Chardy. “When you play a match like this on the central court in France and you win it, it’s a wonderful feeling. All the efforts that are deployed every day are aimed at achieving a goal like this one. It’s great, and I’m going to enjoy it tonight.”

Medvedev was riding a nine-match winning streak since losing to Rafael Nadal in the US Open final on 8 September, and the Cincinnati and Shanghai champion had won his past 11 matches at ATP Masters 1000 events. The Russian had reached also six consecutive finals dating back to the Citi Open in Washington.

But the 32-year-old Chardy saved 14 of 15 break points, including one as he served for the match, to reach the third round of his home Masters 1000 event for the first time. Chardy is making his 10th appearance.

“When you play players like that, that are of such a high level, you need to have a perfect game level,” said Chardy. “And all my break points, I played them well, so it’s frustrating when you’re the opponent. This has happened to me the other way round, and it was great to be on the right side of the court this time.

“It’s the last tournament of the year. I had been playing well for some tournaments now. I did great matches, but I also lost in thrilling matches, and it’s wonderful to finish up like this.”

He snapped a 10-match losing streak against members of the Top 10, which dated back to his win against No. 4 Dominic Thiem at the 2018 Miami Open presented by Itau. The Frenchman will next meet Chile’s Cristian Garin or 2016 finalist John Isner of the U.S.

Five of the eight players in this year’s Next Gen ATP Finals are making their maiden appearance in Milan. Among them is Swede Mikael Ymer, who has jumped more than 180 spots in the ATP Rankings this season to reach a current career-high standing of No. 73.

But while some fans may be surprised to see so many new faces competing at the Allianz Cloud, the 20-year-old Ymer believed it was bound to happen.

“It’s part of the Tour. Sooner or later, if you work hard, you’re going to start winning matches. Once one person does it, then others get inspired,” Ymer said. “If you look at ‘breaking through’ as some kind of power, with that kind of power comes responsibility. It’s time for me to focus on what I can do to stay there.”

If his recent results are any indication, he won’t need to worry about exiting the Top 100 anytime soon. Ymer opened this year with his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Noumea and soon finished runner-up at two other Challenger events. He then qualified for his first Grand Slam main draw at Roland Garros and convincingly moved past Blaz Rola in the opening round.

Read More: Ymer Opens Up After Winning First Challenger

But it was his second-round defeat in Paris that proved to be the most valuable experience. Facing a Top 10 player for the first time in Alexander Zverev, Ymer found himself daunted by the prime-time setting and the German’s powerful baseline game. Although he lost the match, he gained plenty of insight in what to work on for the future.

“The one lesson I learned from that match is to have more belief in my own game. My focus went away from my strengths and too much toward his weaknesses,” Ymer said. But playing a Top 10 player like Sascha made me see that there is another level. It got me inspired and made me see a lot of things that I could improve in my own game. I went home and picked up a racquet straight after.”

Buoyed by his Grand slam breakthrough, Ymer picked up three more Challenger titles and won his opening-round matches at home ATP Tour events in Bastad and Stockholm. Perhaps most noticeably, he stepped out of the shadow of his older brother, Elias Ymer, by surpassing him for the first time in the ATP Rankings this July.

Read More: Mikael’s Magical Month: Ymer Wins Back-To-Back Challengers

The younger Ymer’s surge in the second half of the season was the result of a lifetime of persistence. He was first introduced to tennis at age three and immediately took to the sport. The Swede had an outstanding junior career that included reaching the Wimbledon boys’ singles final in 2015 and a career-high ITF Junior Ranking of No. 3 that year.

But just as he began to shift his attention to pro events, a hip injury sidelined him for nearly all of 2016. Rather than get discouraged, Ymer focussed on his recovery and was rewarded at the end of the season in Stockholm. The then-18-year-old won his first ATP Tour main draw match in singles and clinched his first tour-level doubles title with his brother.

Ymer credits his parents, Wondwosen and Kelem, with inspiring his determination. They left war-torn Ethiopia in the 1980s to begin a new life in Sweden, but had never met each other until they arrived in the country. Once they started a family, they always did what was possible to support their children’s pro tennis aspirations.

“When it gets tougher, I have that in the back of my head, that people have sacrificed a lot. My family has sacrificed more or less their lives for us to be able to do this. So I’m not only playing for me. Having that in the back of my mind always helps me,” Ymer said. “Sometimes I’m still going to fail, but it definitely helps me to make sure I do the work. It also motivates me.”

Ymer looks to use that determination as a springboard to becoming an ATP Tour staple. He’s dominated the ATP Challenger Tour this season, but has limited experience against Top 100 players compared to the rest of his fellow competitors in Milan. The experience of multiple matches against his peers at that level will serve him well as he looks to continue climbing the ATP Rankings next year.

”The important thing for me is to keep working and not lose sight of the big picture, keep doing the right things no matter how the tennis goes,” Mikael said. “I’m very excited to get back to work so I can come back stronger and compete against the top players. The higher you get in the [ATP Rankings], the tougher your opponents will be, so that’s something I have to prepare myself for.”