With two spots remaining at the Nitto ATP Finals, Pablo Carreno Busta and Sam Querrey begin their final campaign for qualification on Tuesday in Paris. Carreno Busta, who currently occupies the last London spot, faces French wild card Nicolas Mahut in one of three second-round matches. The Spaniard broke into the Top 8 of the Emirates ATP Race to London after defeating a record four qualifiers en route to the US Open semi-finals, one of whom was the 35-year-old Mahut.

Also in second-round action, Querrey meets Serbian qualifier Filip Krajinovic. If Querrey and Carreno Busta both win on Tuesday, they will meet in the third round with the Spaniard’s Race position on the line. If Querrey wins and Carreno Busta loses on Tuesday, they will be tied with 2,615 points. Carreno Busta owns the tiebreaker because he has earned more points than Querrey at Grand Slams and mandatory ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups for Day 2  and vote for who you think will win!
Mahut vs. Carreno Busta | Cuevas vs. Khachanov | Verdasco vs. Rublev

Nitto ATP Finals qualifier Dominic Thiem plays in the other second-round match against German lucky loser Peter Gojowczyk. Thiem is ranked a career-high No. 6, but he has yet to reach a semi-final off of clay courts this season. The Austrian has struggled throughout his career during the fall. Thiem is 12-20 lifetime in October and November with one quarter-final and no semi-final finishes.

The last eight matches of the first round are also on Tuesday’s schedule, including a pair of France vs. Spain showdowns. French wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert faces Feliciano Lopez, who beat him 7-6(3), 6-4 in the 2016 Rolex Paris Masters first round. Then, Adrian Mannarino looks to end his sensational season on a high note against David Ferrer. Mannarino has earned 24 of his career-high 32 wins this year since June 25, when he began his run to the inaugural Antalya final.

Richard Gasquet won an all-French battle on Monday evening at the Rolex Paris Masters, prevailing against Benoit Paire 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to set up a second-round clash with sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov. 

Gasquet looked on course for a straight-sets victory when Paire mounted his challenge late in the second, winning four straight games to send the match to a decisive set. He was unable to maintain the momentum in the third, however, as Gasquet broke in the seventh game and served out the win to love after one hour and 46 minutes. The former World No. 7 improved to a perfect 5-0 mark against his countryman.

The 31-year-old Gasquet, a three-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finalist, will take a 5-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head record into his next match against Dimitrov, who last week became the fifth qualifier for the Nitto ATP Finals. Dimitrov has won their past two meetings, including earlier this year at the Australian Open.

Wild card Julien Benneteau capped off the day’s proceedings in Paris with a 6-4, 6-4 win over fast-rising #NextGenATP star Denis Shapovalov. The 35-year-old Benneteau also defeated the Canadian teenager on home soil in February, at the Open 13 Marseille.

Shapovalov will finish his season next week at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, while Benneteau goes on to face top Frenchman and 2008 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for an 11th time overall and second time at this tournament. Tsonga still holds a chance of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, but would need to reclaim the title at this Masters 1000 tournament.

A total of four Frenchmen won in first-round action on the first day of main draw action at the Masters 1000 tournament, with Nicolas Mahut and Jeremy Chardy advancing earlier in the day.

Christopher Eubanks burst onto the ATP World Tour in July when he advanced to the quarter-finals of the BB&T Atlanta Open, claiming his first two tour-level victories. He then qualified for the Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, beating World No. 69 Janko Tipsarevic — a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year in the 2017 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon — to earn a spot in the main draw, where he lost in three sets. Thanks to his efforts, he received a wild card into the US Open.

The thing is, Eubanks was still a college tennis player, having recently completed his junior year at Georgia Tech. There, he became the fifth player in Atlantic Coast Conference history to garner ACC Player of the Year honours two years in a row. But after already taking what would have been the first semester of his senior year off, Eubanks announced on 23 October that he would forego his final year of college eligibility and begin his journey as a professional tennis player. The 21-year-old is playing his first event since the decision this week at the Charlottesville Men’s Pro Challenger in Virginia, and will play the U.S. indoor swing that also includes Knoxville and Champaign, where he reached the semi-finals last year in just his second Challenger event.

“It was extremely difficult. It was a long process. It involved me kind of looking at myself and asking myself mentally, ‘Do I think I’m mature enough? Do I think I’m ready to tackle this as a job?’” Eubanks said. “I think I made the right decision for me and look forward to seeing what happens because of it.”

Eubanks consulted fellow Americans in the pro ranks — including Donald Young, former Georgia Tech student-athlete Kevin King, Steve Johnson and Ryan Harrison — for advice. Their words boiled down into similar advice.

“You have to do what you think is best for you. You can’t make a decision for other people. You can’t make a decision to please other people. You have to do what you think is going to make you happy and do what you think is the best for you and your career,” Eubanks said of what he was told. “If I felt like I was ready and I’m ready to tackle this as a job then make the jump. If there’s any type of hesitation, there’s nothing wrong with going back to college for another year.”

Now, tennis is Eubanks’ job. But he says that he doesn’t have to change much.

“I just try to continue the mindset that I’ve had all summer and continue the progression I’ve been on,” Eubanks said of consistently improving. “I think I’m on a pretty good progression and I think it would be foolish to change something that I’ve been doing when it’s been working pretty well.”

To continue trending upward, Eubanks has been taking different weeks to go to train at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida, with USTA coach Troy Hahn. Other players practising there include Bjorn Fratangelo, Tommy Paul, Reilly Opelka and Mackenzie McDonald. Currently No. 308 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Eubanks will have to work his way through the ATP Challenger Tour to climb up the professional ladder. And while he has only played four Challengers, the level of event does not phase him.

“I still try look at it as it’s still tennis. It’s still a tennis match. It’s still the same thing I’ve been doing since I was two years old,” Eubanks said. “So I don’t think that having a different mindset going into a Challenger, going into a 250 or a 500 or a Grand Slam, I don’t think it should change. It’s important to keep the same mindset I’ve had, which is treating every match like it’s the last one. Treating every match like it’s a tournament final.”

After beating the likes of Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Jared Donaldson and #NextGenATP Taylor Fritz in Atlanta, as well as Tipsarevic in Cincinnati, there was no change in what Eubanks thought he can do. His mind is only set on doing one thing every day.

“Just continue to get better,” said Eubanks, who added he is committed to doing whatever he can to maximize his potential. “[Just] trying to be a better player as time goes on than I was previously. That’s probably the biggest goal I have and if I can continue that, I think some pretty cool things can happen.”

Eubanks kicks off his professional career on Tuesday against Christian Harrison in his Charlottesville opener. The pair teamed up to beat veterans Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev at the US Open.

Rafael Nadal starts the penultimate week of the ATP World Tour season focused on two more career milestones in what has already been a resurgent 2017 for the Spaniard.

No. 1 is No. 1: Nadal needs to win only one more match to clinch his fourth year-end finish atop the Emirates ATP Rankings (also 2008, 2010, 2013 ). No. 2 is No. 31: The number of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles Nadal will have – which would be a record – if he wins the Rolex Paris Masters this week. He is currently tied with Serbian Novak Djokovic for the all-time lead at 30.

Winning one more match is likely to happen here or at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 12-19 November at The O2 in London. A 31^st Masters 1000 title in 2017 will require Nadal accomplishing a career first and hoisting the “Tree of Fanti” trophy at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris.

“Let’s see. I need to win a match. But I am here to try my best as in every tournament,” Nadal said on Monday during his pre-tournament press conference. “Of course, if that happens, it will be something important for me. But season is not over and this is not the moment to think much about that. I will just try to think about trying to have the right preparation for the tournament and then try to be ready for the first match.”

Most Year-End No. 1 Finishes

The top seed opens against Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Hyeon Chung. The 21-year-old South Korean routed German Mischa Zverev on Monday, breaking the serve and volleyer five times to advance 6-0, 6-2.

Nadal, a 10-time champion at Roland Garros, has always reached at least the quarter-finals during the indoors Paris tournament. His best finish came during his debut 10 years ago when he lost in the final against Argentine David Nalbandian.

Rafa at the Rolex Paris Masters

It will be Nadal’s first tournament since falling to Roger Federer in the Shanghai Rolex Masters final on 15 October. “I needed to rest after Shanghai. I’ve had a lot of matches this year,” said Nadal, who enters Paris 65-10 on the season, including  which includes six title runs.

Nadal’s long-time rival Federer withdrew from the Rolex Paris Masters on Sunday evening after winning his eighth Swiss Indoors Basel title and 95^th career crown.

“After winning Shanghai and winning Basel he believes [missing Paris] will be better for his body and for his preparation for London,” Nadal said.

“I am here to try my best as always and just trying to practise well every day… I am just happy to be here in probably the most important city in my career.”