First round: Bublik’s love affair with Paris

There is very little the tall man from Kazakhstan cannot do with bat and ball – he has every shot in the book and a few more that have never been tried before – but he has not always had the mindset to put that talent to its fullest use. This year, though, has been different. Since his Roland-Garros run, he has won four titles (doubling his tally for his 10 years on tour), the most recent of which came in Hangzhou last month. To say that he has turned his year around is putting it mildly.

Back in the French capital, he looked like a man who knew exactly how to win. And he did: he brushed aside Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-3. He served better than his rival (13 aces to Australian’s three), he hit more winners (28 to 19) and while he did drop serve once, he broke his usually mighty serve three times. The Paris La Defense Arena may be new to him – and everyone else at the Rolex Paris Masters – but he looked perfectly at home.

France does it again

Alexandre Muller had won one match since the end of August as he came into his opening match at the parisian tournament. And he had lost his only two previous matches against Brandon Nakashima (in the Challenger circuit). The omens did not look good. Yet, with a loud crowd behind him, Muller faced the American again and marched into the second round 6-2, 7-5. It was the third win out of four for France in the day session. The key was simple: Muller took his chances (three of five break points converted) and Nakashima didn’t (neither of his two break points taken).

Lorenzo Sonego was barely troubled by Sebastian Korda as he nipped into the second round 6-2, 6-3. Korda could not lay a glove on the Italian and after 89 minutes, Sonego was through to play his countryman, Lorenzo Musetti, the No.7 seed.

Zizou Bergs needed a little more time to deal with Alex Michelson 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to earn himself a meeting with Jannik Sinner in the second round.