Taylor Fritz kept his hopes of ATP Finals qualification alive after defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Paris. The American trailed by a break in the first set, before battling back to win 7-5 6-2.
The American must reach at least the final of the masters 1000 event to have any chance of qualifying for Turin.
Fritz said after his win “[I’m] really happy, he’s a tough person to play against. He’s got weapons on both sides. He’s extremely quick as well, so there’s nowhere you can really play with a lot of safety.”
The 9th seed next faces Gilles Simon after he overcame Andy Murray 4-6 7-5 6-3 in the evening session. The tournament is Simon’s last of his professional tennis career. The Frenchman was a former world number six and winner of 14 ATP tour titles.
Murray led 6-4 5-3 before failing to serve the match out, and got broken once again to go 6-5 down in the second set. The Brit struggled to cope with a hostile crowd later on in the match, as Simon continued to frustrated Murray with his strong defence.
Murray’s game somewhat fell apart in the decider, losing a decisive break of serve to go down 2-1, before being broken once again as Simon took the set 6-3.
Elsewhere in Paris, the tournament lost both 11th seed Jannik Sinner and 15th seed Marin Cilic. Sinner lost out 6-2 6-3 to Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler. Cilic was beaten 6-4 6-4 by the in-form Lorenzo Musetti, who made the Napoli final a fortnight ago.
Cameron Norrie made it through to the second round after a comprehensive 6-2 6-4 win over Miomir Kecmanovic. The Brit next faces Corentin Moutet or Borna Coric. Frances Tiafoe also made his way through after knocking out Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 6-4. He faces the winner of the Arthur Rinderknech v Jack Draper match which takes place on Tuesday.
Big serving Maxime Cressy set up a 2nd round duel with defending champion Novak Djokovic on Tuesday after sweeping aside Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-3, while home favourite Richard Gasquet will face Casper Ruud in round two after a straight sets win over Alex Molcan.
Tuesday will also see 7th seed Andrey Rublev in action against John Isner. The Russian will qualify for the year ending championships by reaching the semi-finals, although if he loses at an earlier stage, he would only miss out on a spot if Fritz or Hubert Hurkacz at least reach the final.
Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will play his opening match on Wednesday as well as compatriot Rafael Nadal, who is making his first singles appearance since this year’s US Open in late August. The Spaniard is still missing a Paris-Bercy title from his already staggering résumé.
