The first round of the final world tour masters event is underway in Paris. Roger Federer, who reclaimed the#1 seed from the tendonitis-ridden Rafael Nadal, led the odds by bookmakers to win the Paris Masters tennis tournament. However, the Swede has never passed the quarterfinal stage of the ATP BNP Paribas Masters event.
The top players had a bye for the first round of 64, but Federer has a tough draw. The Swede will face Richard Gasquet in the second round, who defeated Nicolas Mahut in the first round. Federer is also on the same side of the draw as World #4 Andy Murray. His history at the Paris Masters leaves a lot to be desired, including an embarrassing first round loss to Julien Bennetau. Who?
Andy Murray was third in the odds to win the Paris Masters and he will have plenty of motivation after losing early in the Valencia Open last week. He won that tournament’s doubles championship with his brother, Jamie, on Sunday. Surprisingly, Murray has an 8-3 record against Federer.
Second behind Federer to win the Paris Masters was Novak Djokovic. The U.S. Open finalist won the tournament last year with a win over hometown boy, Gael Monfils, in the final. He has played well this season, but lost to Federer last week at the Valencia Open. Novak has already qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals in London to end the season.
Despite sitting out the Paris Masters, Nadal should be ready for the ATP World Tour Finals. There are three of the eight places still to be filled and the Paris Masters will decide the fate of some, such as Andy Roddick. He has the best odds to land one of those spots for the season finale. Below are the odds of the first round matches of the Paris Masters left to play tomorrow.
Paris Masters First Round Match Odds (provided by Eurobet)
David Nalbandian: 1/5 – Marcel Granollers: 10/3
Giles Simon: 2/5 – Andrey Golubev: 7/4
Phillip Kohlschreiber: 8/15 – Thomaz Bellucci: 11/8
Sam Querrey: 8/11 – Juan Monaco: 1/1
Sergiy Stakhovsky 8/13 – Illya Marchenko: 6/5