3 shocking results from Paris Masters 2024 Day 1 ft. Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton

The 2024 Rolex Paris Masters is underway, and the first day of the ATP Masters 1000 event produced some notable shocks. Two of them came in singles, with Tommy Paul and Sebastian Baez, the World No. 12 and World No. 26, respectively, exiting the hardcourt tournament early. The third came in doubles, where Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz had teamed up but could not make it past the first hurdle in the French capital.

Here, we will take you through all the shock results from the first day of the 2024 Rolex Paris Masters and what led to them.

1. Tommy Paul endures straight-set loss to 36-year-old Adrian Mannarino

Tommy Paul (Source: Getty)

The 2024 season has, for the most part, been an overwhelmingly positive one for Tommy Paul. The New Jersey-born Paul has won three out of his four ATP Tour-level titles this year, with the most recent one coming at the Stockholm Open, where he eased past Grigor Dimitrov in the final.

However, Paul's form since his Stockholm Open campaign has drastically dipped. After his title triumph in the Swedish capital, the 27-year-old featured in the Erste Bank Open in Vienna but was surprisingly ousted in the first round by compatriot Brandon Nakashima.

Paul's recent run of poor form continued at the 2024 Rolex Paris Masters, with the aging Adrian Mannarino winning the pair's first-round encounter 6-3, 7-5. The World No. 12 was largely ineffective with his serve, which allowed Mannarino to engineer 11 break-point opportunities, five of which the Frenchman converted.

The loss means that Paul's hopes of making it to the year-end Nitto ATP Finals for the first time have gone up in smoke.

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2. Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz bite the dust in doubles

Ben Shelton (L) and Taylor Fritz (R) (Source: Getty)

Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz had paired up to play doubles for the first time at this year's Laver Cup. The all-American duo had impressed in their win over Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz at the team tennis event.

At the 2024 Rolex Paris Masters, Shelton and Fritz joined forces once again, but unfortunately, their doubles campaign ended in the first round itself, courtesy of their defeat at the hands of the French duo of Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia. The Americans won the first set 6-4, but the Frenchmen clinched the next two sets 7-6(4) and 10-8.

In singles, Shelton is set to play another Frenchman in Corentin Moutet in the first round. If the 22-year-old progresses, he will play World No. 1 and reigning Australian Open and US Open champion Jannik Sinner in the second round, a daunting prospect considering the Italian's 65-6 win-loss record so far this year.

Meanwhile, Fritz is slated to square off against either newly-crowned Vienna Open champion Jack Draper or Jiri Lehecka in the second round. The American, seeded fifth at the 2024 Rolex Paris Masters, received a first-round bye.

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3. Sebastian Baez suffers unexpected 2024 Rolex Paris Masters loss to Miomir Kecmanovic

Sebastian Baez (Source: Getty)

Sebastian Baez, currently ranked at World No. 26, was the favorite heading into his 2024 Rolex Paris Masters first-round clash against Miomir Kecmanovic. However, the Argentine suffered a 4-6, 7-6(6), 5-7 loss to the No. 55-ranked Serb.

Baez is widely regarded as one of the best clay court players in modern-day tennis. However, he tends to struggle across other surfaces and this particular weakness of his surfaced once again on the hard court of the Bercy Arena in Paris.

Largely ineffective with his serve and also unable to do much with his return, Baez failed to impose himself on the game. Meanwhile, Kecmanovic fired 12 aces and also converted four out of the nine break-point opportunities he created.