First round: the perfect start
Arthur Cazaux christened the new centre court with a French victory to open the Rolex Paris Masters in style.
With seating for 17,500, it is the second largest centre court in the world (only the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York is bigger) and it has one of the most passionate crowds in tennis: welcome to the court central at the Paris La Defense Arena.
The Rolex Paris Masters officially opened for business in its new home on Monday morning and as curtain-raisers go, it could not have produced a better show: Arthur Cazaux, the 23-year-old world No.61 from Montpellier, overturning the form book and overwhelming Luciano Darderi 7-6(5), 7-6(4) to bring that passionate crowd to its feet. The cheers echoed around in the cavernous arena. This was the start that the Rolex Paris Masters had dreamed of.
A battle royal
It was only the fifth time in his career that Cazaux had beaten a top 30 play (Darderi is ranked No.27) and he had to fight tooth and nail to get it. Four set points escaped him in the first set until he sealed it and then, the second set, he came from behind twice to reach another tiebreak. Once there, he drew first blood in the opening point and never looked back.
Flavio Cobolli, meanwhile, had a much quieter time on court 1 as he eased past Tomas Machac 6-1, 6-4 and Daniel Altmaier pushed past Marcos Giron 6-2, 7-6(5) on court 2.