Tommy Paul and Adrian Mannarino will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they collide in round one of the Rolex Paris Masters on Monday night. Their only previous encounter came at Wimbledon in 2022, when Paul rolled 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.
Mannarino got clobbered in that matchup even though grass is a surface that is favorable for his game. Now he has home-court advantage in France and is once again playing in conditions under which he excels, on an indoor hard court. However, it probably won’t matter given the veteran’s overall form right now. Mannarino is a horrendous 13-29 this season and has lost four of his last five matches dating back to the Chengdu second round.
Adding insult to injury is a rough draw at the final Masters 1000 event of the year. Paul is coming down the stretch of an awesome 2024 campaign and remains in distant Nitto ATP Finals contention. The 12th-ranked American is sporting a 45-18 record that features three titles–including two indoors and one already this fall in Stockholm.
With Paul on fire and also motivated to make a deep run in Paris to give himself a shot at qualifying for Turin, this should be one-way traffic the whole way.
Pick: Paul in 2
WWW?
Easily Paul.
Paul in 2.