Thursday Preview: Medvedev, Zverev & Nitto ATP Finals Hopes Feature In Paris
While Daniil Medvedev headlines play at the Rolex Paris Masters on Thursday, the FedEx ATP Race To Turin is heating up and three Nitto ATP Finals contenders — Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz and Cameron Norrie — are also in action.
Two singles spots remain up for grabs with less than 10 days left in the regular ATP Tour season, which includes next week’s Stockholm Open.
Seventh seed Hurkacz will be wary of lucky loser Dominik Koepfer, who has started strongly in wins over 2016 champion Andy Murray and Felix Auger-Aliassime this week. The Pole sits in the final automatic qualification spot and will be watching 10th seed Norrie closely, when the Briton challenges Taylor Fritz second on Court Central. Norwegian Casper Ruud, who is seventh in the battle for a spot at the season finale, to be held from 14-21 November at the Pala Alpitour in Turin meets Marcos Giron, an American qualifier.
If the second-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev loses to #NextGenATP American Sebastian Korda during the night session, then Novak Djokovic will secure year-end No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings for a record-breaking seventh time. Djokovic had been due to play Gael Monfils, but the French 15th seed withdrew due to a right adductor strain. Fourth-seeded German Alexander Zverev, last week’s Erste Bank Open titlist (d. Tiafoe), also plays No. 16 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria for the fourth time, while 18-year-old #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz plays French qualifier Hugo Gaston.
Watch Wednesday Highlights From Paris
VIEW REVISED SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2021
COURT CENTRAL start 11:00 am
[LL] D. Koepfer (GER) vs [7] H. Hurkacz (POL)
[10] C. Norrie (GBR) vs T. Fritz (USA)
[16] G. Dimitrov (BUL) vs [4] A. Zverev (GER)
Not Before 7:30 pm
S. Korda (USA) vs [2] D. Medvedev (RUS)
C. Alcaraz (ESP) vs [Q] H. Gaston (FRA)
COURT 1 start 11:00 am
[LL] A. Popyrin (AUS) vs J. Duckworth (AUS)
[WC] B. Bonzi (FRA) / A. Rinderknech (FRA) vs [8] I. Dodig (CRO) / M. Melo (BRA)
Not Before 3:00 pm
[3] P. Herbert (FRA) / N. Mahut (FRA) vs A. Behar (URU) / G. Escobar (ECU)
[5] J. Cabal (COL) / R. Farah (COL) vs D. Evans (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR)
Not Before 7:30 pm
[6] C. Ruud (NOR) vs [Q] M. Giron (USA)
COURT 2 start 11:00 am
[1] N. Mektic (CRO) / M. Pavic (CRO) vs S. Gille (BEL) / J. Vliegen (BEL)
[7] K. Krawietz (GER) / H. Tecau (ROU) vs [PR] F. Martin (FRA) / A. Mies (GER)
J. Murray (GBR) / B. Soares (BRA) vs [Alt] R. Bautista Agut (ESP) / A. Bublik (KAZ)
T. Puetz (GER) / M. Venus (NZL) vs [2] R. Ram (USA) / J. Salisbury (GBR)