The first seed in action in Paris fell as Gilles Simon lost in a tight three setter against Fernando Verdasco. Wednesday features an impressive live-up with six singles matches across two courts. The line-up for the World Tour Finals will be finalised this week with all the contenders in action on Wednesday. I’ll be at the O2 on the first evening and will post some pictures on my Facebook page. If you haven’t already, you can check out Moo’s Tennis Blog on Facebook HERE.
1. Stan Wawrinka v Dominic Thiem (ATP Paris, R2)
Stan Wawrinka will go in pursuit of his first ATP main draw win since the US Open. Wawrinka led eventual finalist, Kei Nishikori by two sets to one before eventually losing in five frenetic sets. Wawrinka won a match in the Davis Cup semi-finals against Fabio Fognini, but hasn’t won since. Wawrinka lost to Tatsuma Ito in Tokyo (7-5 6-2), Gilles Simon in Shanghai (5-7 7-5 6-4) and Mikhail Kukushkin in Basel (6-4 6-7(1) 6-3). In his first match in Paris, Wawrinka has drawn Dominic Thiem. The pair played earlier this year in Madrid where Thiem produced the biggest win of his career to prevail, 1-6 6-2 6-4. Thiem showed mental toughness beyond his years to bag a huge win against a then, in-form Wawrinka, who had just won Monte-Carlo. Wawrinka is in desperate need of matches or risks going into the World Tour Finals in dire form. Thiem will be a very tricky opponent; the 21-year-old Austrian defeated Alexander Dolgopolov in the first round, 6-2 4-6 6-0. Stan has been lacking intensity as the season draws to a close. Thiem knows what needs to be done to get the win, but with London just around the corner, I think Stan will pick up his game…
Prediction: Wawrinka d. Thiem in 3 sets
ATP Paris 2nd Round Predictions
Gael Monfils d. John Isner in 3 sets *This match depends on Monfils’s fitness*
Grigor Dimitrov d. Pablo Cuevas in 2 sets
Julien Benneteau d. Andy Murray in 3 sets *Murray has not sounded confident in his press conference*
David Ferrer d. David Goffin in 3 sets
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. Jurgen Melzer in 3 sets
Kei Nishikori d. Tommy Robredo in 2 sets *Tommy is a legend*
Feliciano Lopez d. Sam Querrey in 3 tight sets
Milos Raonic d. Jack Sock in 3 tight sets
Richard Gasquet d. Roberto Bautista Agut in 2 sets
Lucas Pouille d. Fabio Fognini in 2 sets
Roger Federer d. Jeremy Chardy in 2 very tight sets
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Monfils won pretty easily against Sousa. But Isner should be more challenging.
Same prediction than you about Benneteau to win against Murray. Murray should be thinking about saving stamina for the masters. If he can’t win easily, he will perhaps let it go.
Tommy Robredo and Goffin should be exhausted with last week efforts. Specifically, Robredo, he emerged today as the winner after 2H13, but in his third set against Pospisil, there were clues he was really tired.
Goffin had a quick and easy victory today.
In my opinion, Thiem could be the winner of his match against Stan Wawrinka. His good serve will keep him unbreaked as time as necessary, then Stan will lost his nerve and you know what’s happening when Stan loses his composure… 🙂
Except M.impredictable Fognini, for whom i’ won’t even try to guess the result, i’m mostly ok with predictions.
LikeLike
I’d LOVE for Chardy to beat Federer. He’s beaten Federer before. This year, too!
LikeLike
Chardy beat Federer at Rome… but was just after the birth of the twins. His motivation was not very big at this moment. Now with the number 1 in front of his eyes he will win this match in my opinion without any doubts.
Stan vs. Thiem will be more interesting. I would not be surprised to see Stan losing again. Pouille should be a good opponent for Fabio. I think he will stop his rot and win this match. I think Murray can’t play with half energy. This guy hates to lose… so he will win in three tight sets against Benneteau.
LikeLike
True- I’m just clutching straws being a Djokovic fan LOL
LikeLike
Interesting day of matches… there are a lot of matches where I rewrote the predictions. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Stan lose again. Fognini is extremely unpredictable and can lose to anyone these days. I changed my mind with Murray after hearing quotes from his press conference, plus Benneteau’s been in good form of late.
LikeLike
I agree with most of your predictions today now you’ve edited them.
Do we think Wawrinka’s post Aus Open slump mirrors Murray’s post Wimbledon decline? It’s taken Andy nearly eighteen months to find his form again, but it seems he’s getting there!
LikeLike
Federer all the way and will become world no.1 by the end of the year!!
LikeLike
It looks like it could definitely happen unless Nole pulls his finger out. Roger has been blessed with one EASY draw in Paris. I can’t see him not making the finals unless theres a big upset.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Tennis.com.
LikeLike
Except Murray, and Gasquet who lost against his worst opponent (Gasquet never won against Bautista Agut), your predictions were correct raonic, Wawrinka, ferrer lopez, dimitrov… Good job ! Seems next round will be really hard to predict.
Something is bothering me : if someone watched Karlovic/Pouille yesterday… i can’t believe Karlovic lost against Lucas Pouille… Did he throw away the match ?
LikeLike
Karlovic is prone to odd lapses and poor losses to weak opponents. It’s why he isn’t ranked MUCH higher.
LikeLike