Main draw action at the ATP Paris Masters begins on Monday with a plethora of exciting matches. One of those will be on the main court featuring two former Grand Slam champions as Stan Wawrinka squares off against Dominic Thiem. We also predict the rest of the day’s matches in separate articles. So who will progress?
ATP Paris Day 1 Predictions
Christopher Eubanks vs Tallon Griekspoor
Head-to-head: first meeting
Christopher Eubanks has lost his last three matches in a row, which is not a nice way to bow out for the season. He can still salvage whatever is left here in Paris, as he is not slated to play in either Sofia or Metz after next week. Tallon Griekspoor, by contrast, is finishing the year just the way he started it, by winning. The Dutchman’s breakout season took him inside the world’s Top 30. Despite a handful of injuries scuppering his progress from going even higher, he’s surprised himself. He’s rightly the favorite in this matchup, which should be close.
Prediction: Griekspoor in 3
Botic van de Zandschulp vs Adrian Mannarino
Head-to-head: van de Zandschulp 2-1 Mannarino
Botic van de Zandschulp’s ranking has plummeted in the second half of the year. From a career-high ranking of #22, he finds himself on the cusp of a Top 70 exit. The Munich final had a huge psychological damage on his season. Even he knows he’ll not get a better chance to bag a maiden ATP title after wasting four match points to let the title slip through his fingertips. But he has turned the screw in his past few matches coming to Paris and won a pair of qualifying matches at the weekend to reach the main draw. There is the likelihood that Mannarino will take his eyes off the ball here, especially after exceeding his season’s expectations.
Prediction: van de Zandschulp in 3
[cta id=4014 type=cta]
Dominic Thiem vs Stan Wawrinka
Head-to-head: Wawrinka 3-1 Thiem
Dominic Thiem celebrated his 30th birthday last month and the clock is starting to tick down on his career. But if he needs encouragement that his best tennis years are patently ahead of him, he cannot look further than his first-round opponent Stan Wawrink.a who won the second of his three Grand Slams after turning 30. And at the ripe old age of 38, Wawrinka is still comfortably entrenched in the world’s Top 50. Last week’s defeat to Alexander Shevchenko in Basel was expected to ignite some much-needed pep talk for Wawrinka, but he won’t be too disheartened after witnessing the Russian’s run there which included a Top 10 scalp. Thiem appears to have turned a corner in the second half of the season, but can’t get a stroke of good luck with the draw. This is another tough one for him, but his strong qualifying run at the weekend gives him a tiny edge.
Prediction: Thiem in 3
Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
