Tomas Berdych in a clinic

I’m watching the draw ‘live’. In the first round of the Paris Masters, Tomas has been linked to a qualifier.

R1 qual. R2 Robredo R3 Nadal QF Tsonga/Simon SF Davydenko/Soderling F Federer

Friday, November 6, 2009 

The draw for the 2009 BNP Paribas Masters tournament was carried out on Friday evening, with plenty of exciting ties in prospect from the second round onwards.

A number of prominent members of French tennis scene were on hand to carry out the draw, including French Tennis Federation (FFT) president Jean Gachassin, tournament referee Rémy Azémar and Fabrice Santoro, in what will be his last appearance as a player at Bercy.

The 16 seeds all receive a bye in the first round, with No1 seed Roger Federer then facing the winner of Julien Benneteau and Philipp Petzschner in the second round and possibly Gaël Monfils in the third as he looks to win his first title here at Bercy.

In the bottom half of the draw, Rafael Nadal – another big name yet to triumph at the Palais Omnisport - will play either Nicolas Almagro or a qualifier in the second round and could well face Tommy Robredo or Tomas Berdych

Title-holder Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is in the same quarter of the draw as the four-time Roland Garros winner from Majorca, and provided that he can beat the winner of Victor Hanescu and Albert Montanes in the second round, the Frenchman will likely face fellow-countryman Gilles Simon in the third round and Nadal in the quarters. in the third.

Fabrice Santoro, in his last tournament on French soil, drew American James Blake in the first round, with the winner earning the right to face world No4 Andy Murray in the second. The other retiring hero Marat Safin - who along with Boris Becker is the only three-time winner of the tournament – will face a qualifier in the first round before theoretically taking on this year's US Open winner Juan Martin Del Potro.

Andy Roddick and Juan Carlos Ferrero were forced to pull out at the last moment, with Pablo Cuevas and Andreas Seppi being given direct acceptance in their place. There are also seven first-round slots to be filled by qualifiers who have two rounds to get through, on Saturday and Sunday, if they are to make it into the main draw. Six French players are among the 24 looking to qualify.

The Final Battleground

The BNP Paribas Masters is the ninth and final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. As the final tournament of the regular men’s tennis season, the Palais Omnisports in Bercy showcases the cream of the crop as they vie to win the prestigious title and clinch one of the remaining qualifying spots in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Tournament Name: BNP PARIBAS MASTERS
Location: Paris,  France
Dates: 8-15 November (Sunday Start)
Prize Money: Euro 2,750,000
48 DRAW (Q24)

SITE: Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
8 boulevard de Bercy
75012 Paris
SURFACE: Acrylic on wood
BALL: Head ATP
WEB SITE: http://www.fft.fr/bnpparibasmasters/2009_en/

ATP Ranking Points
W: 1000
F: 600
SF: 360
QF: 180
R16: 90
R32: 45 (Seeds: 10)
R64: 10 (WC: 0)
Q: +25
Q12: 14
Q24: 0


1 Federer, Roger SUI 1
2 Nadal, Rafael ESP 2
3 Murray, Andy GBR 3
4 Djokovic, Novak SRB 4
5 Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 5
6 Roddick, Andy USA 6
7 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried FRA 7
8 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 8
9 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 9
10 Simon, Gilles FRA 10
11 Soderling, Robin SWE 11
12 Gonzalez, Fernando CHI 12
13 Monfils, Gael FRA 13
OUT Nalbandian, David ARG 14
15 Cilic, Marin CRO 15
16 Berdych, Tomas CZE 16
17 Stepanek, Radek CZE 17
18 Robredo, Tommy ESP 18
OUT 19 Ferrer, David ESP 19
20 Haas, Tommy GER 20
21 Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP 21
22 Kohlschreiber, Philipp GER 22
23 Wawrinka, Stanislas SUI 23
24 Blake, James USA 24
OUT Querrey, Sam USA 25
OUT 26 Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 26
27 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 27
28 Hanescu, Victor ROU 28
29 Almagro, Nicolas ESP 29
30 Karlovic, Ivo CRO 30
31 Monaco, Juan ARG 31
32 Troicki, Viktor SRB 32
33 Chardy, Jeremy FRA 33
34 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 34
35 Benneteau, Julien FRA 35
36 Petzschner, Philipp GER 36
37 Montanes, Albert ESP 37
OUT Tursunov, Dmitry RUS 38
39 (SE)
40 (Q)
41 (Q)
42 (Q)
43 (Q)
44 (Q)
45 (Q)
46 (WC) Grosjean, Sebastien FRA
47 (WC) Llodra, Michael FRA
48 (WC) Safin, Marat RUS

Nalbandian, Ferrer and Hewitt forced to pull out

Three top players will not be present next week in Paris – 2007 winner David Nalbandian, Spaniard David Ferrer and former world No1 Lleyton Hewitt. They have been replaced in the main draw by Germany's Andreas Beck, American John Isner and Croat Ivan Ljubicic, fresh from his win at another French tournament – the Grand Prix de Tennis in Lyon.

Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racers Julián Simón, Sergio Gadea, Álvaro Bautista, Alex Debon, Héctor Barberá, Nico Terol, Héctor Faubel and tennis players Nikolay Davydenko, Michel Llodra, Janko Tipsarevic, Mikhail Youzhny, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Óscar Hernandez  and  Beto Martín.

Simon takes out Berdych in three

11/4/09 5:16 PM | Cheryl Murray @ TennisTalk

Gilles Simon dispatched Tomas Berdych in three topsy-turvy sets of tennis on Wednesday in Valencia.

No. 5 seed Gilles Simon was on the cusp of losing this second-round match to the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych. The first set was in Berdych’s hands in nearly every Simon service game. Berdych had a staggering nine break points in the set, and he had at least a look at a break in nearly every one of the Frenchman’s service games.

The two men traded breaks of serve early in the set, but after so many other missed opportunities, Berdych faltered with he was attempting to stay in the set at 4-5.

The second set was cleaner than the first from both players. Berdych faced just one break point, which he successfully fought off. A single break of Simon’s serve at 4-4 sealed the second set for Berdych.

Simon’s game finally caught fire in the third set. The Frenchman raced out to a 3-0 lead, and he had several break points to go up 4-0. Berdych managed to stave him off there and then again in his next service game to keep Simon from getting more than one break ahead. With Simon serving for the match at 5-4, Berdych earned himself a couple of break points, but he couldn’t convert.

Simon moves into the quarterfinals while some players in his bracket are still contesting their first-round matches.