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The Paris Masters 2024 will begin on Monday, October 28, and conclude on Sunday, November 3. Jannik Sinner is the top seed and is looking to capture his eighth title of the season here. Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, and Daniil Medvedev round out the top four seeds.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic is amiss as he recently announced his withdrawal from the tournament. The season's final Masters 1000 tournament usually decides the remaining qualifiers for the ATP Finals, so players are dialed in right from the start.
Alex de Minaur, Andrey Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov, and Tommy Paul are some of the players still fighting for a berth. While the top eight seeds have received a first-round bye, there are still quite a few must-watch matches set in store. On that note, here's a look at four of the most exciting first-round matches lined up at the Paris Masters:
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#1 - Ben Shelton vs Felix Auger-Aliassime
Shelton and Auger-Aliassime's second career meeting, and first on hardcourts, is one of the most exciting opening-round duels happening at the Paris Masters. The Canadian won their previous encounter at the French Open earlier this year in straight sets. However, the outcome could be a lot different this time.
Auger-Aliassime has a 32-25 record this season and has gone 15-15 on hardcourts. Shelton, on the other hand, has a 40-23 record this year, and 28 of those wins have come on hardcourts, against 15 losses. Both of them took part in this week's Swiss Indoors at Basel.
Auger-Aliassime was the two-time defending champion and bowed out in the second round. Shelton, meanwhile, will take on Arthur Fils for a spot in the summit clash on Saturday (October 26). The American is likely to avenge his prior loss with a win at the Paris Masters this time.
#2 - Tommy Paul vs Adrian Mannarino
Paul and Mannarino's first-round showdown at the Paris Masters is another match to look out for. The American recently claimed his third title of the season at last week's Stockholm Open. However, his momentum came to a halt at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna this week with a first-round loss to Brandon Nakashima.
Mannarino's form has fallen off a cliff after a decent start to the season. He reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and the semifinals of the Dallas Open. He has won only seven more matches since his loss to Marcos Giron in Dallas back in February.
Mannarino is certainly capable of playing much better than this. He lost his only prior meeting against Paul at Wimbledon 2022 in straight sets. While the American will be favored to come through this clash, the French veteran could spring a surprise provided that he raises his level in front of his home crowd at the Paris Masters.
#3 - Matteo Berrettini vs Alexei Popyrin
Berrettini's return from an injury break has gone rather well. He has won three titles from four finals, though all his triumphs have been on clay. He finally reached his first quarterfinal on hardcourts at this week's Erste Bank Open in Vienna and lost to Karen Khachanov.
Popyrin upgraded himself to the big leagues with his title-winning run at the Canadian Open. He beat five top 20 players en route to his maiden Masters title. He followed it up with a fourth-round finish at the US Open and knocked out defending champion Novak Djokovic in the third round as well.
Berrettini won both of his previous matches against Popyrin. However, the latter has improved a lot since then, and this time the two are likely to be evenly matched. Neither player has an exceptional record at the Paris Masters. The Italian hasn't won a match here yet, while the Australian has a 2-2 record. Both will aim to rectify that with a good performance this year.
#4 - Frances Tiafoe vs Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
Tiafoe's form has dipped yet again after a brief resurgence during the US Open series, when he reached the final of the Cincinnati Open and the US Open semifinals. In fact, he hasn't performed that well outside of his home turf this year. He has a 21-9 record in America and a 12-16 record outside of the country.
21-year-old Mpetshi Perricard won his maiden ATP title at the Lyon Open in May and has peaked at No. 44 in the rankings thus far. He also made the fourth round at Wimbledon, and is currently a semifinalist in Basel, where he will face Holger Rune for a spot in the championship round on Saturday (October 26).
Mpetshi Perricard has a 3-1 record against top 20 players so far, with his only loss coming against Carlos Alcaraz. The French youngster has the potential to one-up Tiafoe in their very first career meeting on his Paris Masters debut.
