The BNP Paribas Masters in Bercy, Paris kicked off on Monday with Dominic Thiem, Jack Sock and Sam Querrey among the first round winners.  On Tuesday, four second round matches will take place.  Moo’s Tennis Blog will be covering the tournament this week and should have previews for most of the week.  We are on the final stretch now!

1. Novak Djokovic v Philipp Kohlschreiber (ATP Paris, R2)

Novak Djokovic plays his first match on tour since becoming a father last week.  I’m surprised to see his name in the draw so soon after such a big event in his personal life.  However he seems to be in a good place right now and ready to fight for his world number one spot, which could come under jeopardy from Roger Federer this week.  Djokovic’s first match of the week will be against Philipp Kohlschreiber; the German player comfortably won his first match on Monday against Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 6-3 6-1.  Kohlschreiber skipped the Asian Swing, but had a good result two weeks ago in Vienna where he reached the semi-finals and pushed David Ferrer to a third set tiebreak.  Kohlschreiber has been very inconsistent this year but has demonstrated, in pulses, through the last couple of years that he has the talent to threaten the best players on tour.  Djokovic has won five of their six encounters with Kohlschreiber’s only win coming at Roland Garros in 2009.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Philipp caused an upset, purely based on Djokovic’s thoughts being elsewhere, but I don’t have the nerve to call it.

Prediction: Djokovic d. Kohlschreiber in 3 sets

2. Fernando Verdasco v Gilles Simon (ATP Paris, R2)

Gilles Simon will seek to replicate the form that saw him reach the final at the last ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai.  In his first tournament since Shanghai, Simon suffered a surprising first round loss to Alexandr Dolgopolov, 6-0 6-3 in Valencia.  Dolgopolov had lost three consecutive matches after returning to the tour after injury.  The loss sums up Simon’s year, which has been a real mixed bag.  It is the same for his opponent in Paris on Tuesday, Fernando Verdasco.  The Spaniard’s best results since Wimbledon have been semi-final appearances in Bastad and Gstaad, which were both on clay.  Of Verdasco’s last 15 matches, 12 of them have gone the distance. Verdasco defeated Donald Young in his first match in Paris, 4-6 6-1 6-3.  Verdasco and Simon are tied at 2-2 in their head-to-head.  Surprisingly, the pair haven’t played since 2010.  Despite Simon’s shaky performance in Valencia, his form has been the more solid of the two players.  I’ve witnessed a few Verdasco meltdowns this year so I’d have to take Simon, particularly in front of a home crowd.

Prediction: Simon d. Verdasco in 2 tight sets

ATP Paris 2nd Round Predictions

Tomas Berdych d. Adrian Mannarino in 2 tight sets

Kevin Anderson d. Santiago Giraldo in 3 sets