Paris-Bercy It is the last big tournament on the circuit in which everyone can participate, because in the subsequent weeks everything will be exclusive to those who are among the top 8 in the ranking, for the ATP Finals in Turinor the quarterfinals of Davis Cupin Málaga.
The last one is played Masters 1000 of the season and the Argentines seek to close it with enough points to allow them to directly enter the 2025 starting tournaments, in Oceania; and also, to keep them within the 32 seeded for next year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open.
A place that was a stage empty of figures for several editions, due to the time and its proximity to the ATP Finals, but the favorite place for Novak Djokovicmoves stadium and it will be the last time in Bercy to settle outside the city, in The Defense.
The Main Draw headed by the Italian number one in the world Jannik Sinner and spanish Carlos Alcaraz -both start from the second round- and with eight pre-classified, there will be the presence of four Argentines with direct entry. Facundo Díaz Acostafell this Saturday in the tournament classification against the Iberian Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 6-3 and 6-2.
Although the draw was not as unfavorable as last week’s, both in Vienna and Basel, it is known that nothing is easy in these competitions and, taking into account that it is the end of the season, it is usually complex due to the drag of the fatigue from 11 months of competition.
Mariano Navone He already knows his rival, it will be the Australian Alex de Minaur (or Minaur, in its English version). Ninth seed in the competition, he reached three finals this season, with 2 titles in the best year of his career, which saw him enter the Top 10.
Navone and De Minaur have never faced each other before and will do so on a surface to which the Australian seems to adapt better. Mariano, except for the one from Madrid, did not win the Masters 1000since he fell in the first round of four of the five to which he was able to qualify. Without too many points to defend until the end of January (75 units), the Argentine will go in search of a victory that will give him confidence and units to add to his ranking.
In case of a victory for Navone and another for Sebastian Baez There will be a duel of Argentines in the second round in Paris. For now, Sebita He does not know his rival and will have to wait for a player from the classification. The same situation you are in Francisco Cerúndolo.
This will be Báez’s third participation in the Parisian competition, in which he has not yet been able to achieve victories. For his part, the eldest of the brothers comes from two defeats in the first round of Masters 1000, in a year in which he has been able to build victories in these tournaments (he reached the semifinals in Madrid), and in this one defends round of 16. The good news is that the Russian Karen Khachanovwho defeated him in the four M1000s in which they met, goes to the other part of the table. Although he will have another Russian on his way, Andrey Rublev.
For its part, Tomas Etcheverry will have the Chinese as its adversary Zhizhen Zhang (28 years old and 46 in the ATP ranking). They faced each other on one occasion, during the Masters 1000 of Shanghai 2023when Zhang managed to turn around the match in which the player of The Silver.
Tommy He defends 45 points achieved in 2023, when he reached the second round of this tournament. If he manages to take that step, the eighth seed, the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, is already waiting for him.. For his part, Sinner will have a tough rival in his debut, which will come from the duel between the American Ben Shelton and the Canadian Very happy Auger. While Alcaraz waits for the winner of the cross between the Chilean Nicholas Jarry and one from the classification.
