2023-10-29 17:50:48
The last Masters 1,000 of the season will be played next week. It will be the return to the slopes of Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovicwho will resume the fight to finish in first place in the 2023 ATP ranking. Right now, in the ATP Race, 490 points separate them, so the Murcian will regain number 1 if he wins the tournament and the Serbian does not reach the final. In the case of reaching the final and not winning it, the Serbian needs to not reach the quarterfinals. These are the two scenarios that will be presented in Paris-Bercy, where they will only be able to face each other in the final as they are the main seeds and Djokovic will have a more complicated draw than that of El Palmar.
The Murcian, who will debut in the second round on Tuesday or Wednesday against the Frenchman Alexandre Muller or the British Cameron Norriecompared to the one who lost the final in Rio de Janeiro and won in Buenos Aires, has a more accessible path to the final than the Serbian, that can be found in his career with players in great shape like the American Ben Shelton, who won the ATP 500 in Tokyo, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner. For its part, the player from El Palmar would have a third round (round of 16) where Karen Kachanov, who yesterday lost in the semifinals in Vienna against the Russian Daniil Medvedev, appears as the player with the best classification.
Tsitsipas and Zverev, in the quarterfinals
Already in the quarterfinals, the main threats are the Greek Stefanos Tsitipas and the German Alexander Zverev, but the Frenchman Ugo Humbert, who plays at home, is another player to take into account.
Casper Ruud and Daniil Medvedev are the favorites to face the player from Murcia in the semifinals, who did not go to Basel due to physical problems, where Lorenzo Musetii, Grigor Dimitov, Hubert Hurkacz and Frances Tiafoe also appear as possible opponents.
More complicated for Djokovic
Novak Djokovic, who was not in Beijing or Shanghai, has a more complicated path in a tournament where he was a finalist last year and, therefore, defends 600 points to only 180 from Alcaraz, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals. He will debut in the second round against Miomir Kecmanovic or Etcheveyy, while in the third round a Ben Shelton appears who is having a great end to the season. In the quarterfinals the most fearsome rival for the world number one is Holger Runner, who in the semifinals could meet Jannik Sinner or Andrey Rublev.
All possible rivals
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Carlos Alcaraz’s possible rivals in the second round are Alexandre Muller (84 ATP) or Cameron Norrie (18). In the round of 16, Karen Khachanov (16), Max Purcell (41), Laslo Djere (36) and Luca Van Assche (63). In the quarterfinals, Stefanos Tsitsipas (7), Félix Auger-Alissime (19), Jan Lennard Struff (27), Ugo Humbert (28) and Alexander Zverev (10).
Daniil Medvedev (3) and Casper Ruud (8) appear in the semifinals, as well as Gael Monfils (89), Francisco Cerundolo (21), Jiri Lehecka (31), Roberto Bautista (48), Sebastian Korda (23), Hubert Hurkacz ( 11), Frances Tiafoe (14), Alexander Bublik (30), Nicolas Jarry (20), Alexei Popyrin (39), Grigor Dimitrov (17) and Lorenzo Musetti (22). And in the end, Novak Djokovic (1), Ben Shelton (15), Taylor Fritz (9), Holger Rune (6), Jannik Sinner (4), Andrey Rublev (5) and Tommy Paul (12), among others.
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