Seeds Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev will begin their weeks in Paris when second-round competition gets underway on Tuesday. Alcaraz opens against Roman Safiullin, while Rublev runs into Yoshihito Nishioka.
Roman Safiullin vs. (2) Carlos Alcaraz
Alcaraz will be playing his third tournament of the fall swing at the Rolex Paris Masters. The second-ranked Spaniard did not reach the final at either of the first two, as he lost to Jannik Sinner in the Beijing semis and to Grigor Dimitrov in the Shanghai fourth round before withdrawing from Basel due to foot and back issues. Alcaraz appears to be good to go for Paris, however, and looks to fare better than he did in 2021 (third-round loss to Hugo Gaston) and 2022 (retired against Holger Rune in the quarterfinals).
Up first for the 20-year-old on Tuesday is a Safiullin, whom he has never faced. Safiullin is wrapping up the best season of his career, during which he has climbed to 45th in the rankings thanks to winning 19 matches on the main tour (now has 31 all time). A quarterfinalist at Wimbledon, the 26-year-old Russian has remained in fine form this fall with a runner-up showing in Chengdu and a third-round effort in Shanghai. Safiullin qualified for the main draw this past weekend and then beat Alexandre Muller 7-6(4), 6-3 on Monday. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the underdog be competitive in this matchup with three Paris victories already under his belt, but Alcaraz should be able to get the job done assuming he is 100 percent physically.
Pick: Alcaraz in 2
(Q) Yoshihito Nishioka vs. (5) Andrey Rublev
Rublev and Nishioka will be going head-to-head for the fifth time in their careers on Tuesday. They have split their four previous encounters, with Nishioka taking a 2-1 lead in the series all on outdoor hard courts before Rublev prevailed 6-2, 7-5 this spring on the red clay of Madrid.
Nishioka has done well to win three matches in Paris (two in qualifying followed by a three-set defeat of Jordan Thompson), but it’s hard to see him seriously testing Rublev. A relatively low-bouncing indoor hard court is far from ideal for the Japanese left-hander and Rublev is playing amazing tennis these days. The fifth-ranked Russian has already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals with room to spare, clinching a spot with a runner-up performance in Shanghai followed by a semifinal result in Vienna. Count on Rublev maintaining momentum in emphatic fashion.
Pick: Rublev in 2
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When he’s playing well he can play some compelling tennis, Alcaraz, but he’s too inconsistent and subpar a lot of the time to be regarded as a GOAT. He’s certainly not the 2nd coming of Christ you made him out to be.
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic performed at a very high standard 95% of the time. They always held themselves to an extremely high standard.
Saufiullin actually celebrated the second set break of service after hitting the net and redirecting ball. I shouldn’t bring nationality into this, but that is just a low blow. Maybe he’s a dolt and it wasn’t intentional but wow, what a nit.
Let’s see if that toughens Saufiullin up a bit. He’s a bit soft and lacking in belief, and I’m not sure you can really develop that at his age.
If he can develop that mental fortitude, he’s got the game.
Sinner has a very difficult draw which is a blessing for Djokovic.
Even Medvedev has a tough draw. Both players have played a lot of tennis and the last thing they need is tough draw before the business end.
And Rune’s not playing well enough to threaten. Unless someone like Greikspoor can pull off the big upset, this looks like Djokovic’s to lose.