The Rolex Paris Masters draw ceremony was held on Friday, revealing a stacked field even though Novak Djokovic is out.
Jannik Sinner’s busy fall stretch will continue at the final Masters 1000 tournament of the season after he triumphed in Vienna on Sunday. Carlos Alcaraz is back in action for the first time since the Six Kings Slam, as he skipped the Basel-Vienna week. As the top two seeds, they are obviously on opposite sides of the bracket and are expected to collide in next weekend’s championship match.
Neither player has a particular difficult path to the final. Due to Jakub Mensik’s withdrawal, Sinner cannot face a seeded opponent until at the least the fourth round. Ben Shelton is a possible quarterfinal foe for the Italian, although the American is rusty on the heels of a U.S. Open shoulder injury. In the semis, Sinner could meet either compatriot Lorenzo Musetti or Alexander Zverev–whom the world No. 2 just defeated in three to sets to lift the Vienna trophy.
Musetti is looking good to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, especially given Felix Auger-Aliassime’s recent retirement in Basel. There is currently a 440-point gap between Musetti and Auger-Aliassime in the eighth and ninth spots, respectively. Casper Ruud is the only other contender who could pass Musetti in Paris, and the Norwegian would have to win the title.
First-round matches to watch this week include Jiri Lehecka vs. Valentin Vacherot, Joao Fonseca vs. Denis Shapovalov, Grigor Dimitrov vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Ugo Humbert, and Flavio Cobolli vs. Tomas Machac.
Dimitrov is playing for the first time since suffering a back injury at Wimbledon while leading Sinner–the eventual champion–two sets to love.
Full PDF draw on the ATP website
