Paris Open Tennis
After his excellent results of the last few days, Gaël Monfils, 18, is now condemned to an exploit if he wants to continue his winning way. After successfully getting through the qualifying draw, and defeating yesterday Thomas Enqvist in the first round, Monfils will face n°2 seed Lleyton Hewitt on Tuesday night. Winner of three of the four junior Grand Slam events this year, Monfils is starting to be well rounded in the main circuit.
Winner of four tournaments this year, runner-up at the US Open, Hewitt is still hoping to finish the year at n°2 in the world. Today, he will need to overcome Monfils' eagerness as well as a whole stadium of fans supporting his opponent.
As for title holder Tim Henman who officially has clinched berth for the Tennis Masters Cup, he has a difficult first round match. Against the muscular tennis of Paradorn Srichaphan, winner yesterday over Mariano Zabaleta, Henman will need all the concentration and determination he has if he wants to still have a chance to defend successfully his title.
On Court 1, Thomas Johansson, winner Sunday in Stockholm of his first title of the season over Andre Agassi, will hope to have regrouped. Armenia's Sargis Sargsian, his first round opponent, has the reputation of a competitor who never gives up. Still, Johansson should be the favourite.
The BNP Paribas Masters is Arnaud Clément's last chance of saving a disastrous 2004 season which saw him lose in the first round on 14 occasions. His opponent, Ivan Ljubicic has a great record against him, although Clément beat him earlier this year in the Davis Cup tie between France and Croatia in Metz. The Paris Tennis Open
The Paris Tennis Open (Open de la Ville de Paris in french) is the second major ATP Paris tennis tournament behind the better known ground tennis Roland-Garros tournament. The Paris tennis Open takes place indoor on a synthetic (Taraflex) surface in the Palais Omnisports de Bercy in November and lasts a full week. The 40 best players in the world are generally present and turn Bercy into a thrilling competition.
In the 1998 13th edition, on November 8th, the 25 years old Englishman Greg Rusedski beat world number 1 player Pete Sampras 6-4, 7-6, (7-4), 6-3. An unexpected result. Congratulations to Greg Rusedski. In the 1999 14th edition, André Agassi (USA) beat Marat Safin (Russia) 7-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. A second Parisian victory in 1999 for André Agassi after Roland-Garros!