[caption id="attachment_162" align="aligncenter" width="380" caption="Jo-Willy Tsonga and Richard Gasquet are France's Final Hope in Bercy"]
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Unfortunately for the French crowd, all five Frenchmen playing today lost. Mannarino, Monfils, Simon, Mahut, and Chardy all lost on this terrible Wednesday for the French.
Adrian Mannarino lost to a charged up Roger Federer, who is looking for his 1st career Paris Masters title. Mannarino was broken early by Federer, which set the tone for the match. Federer breezed by with a 6-2 6-3 victory. Federer will take on tricky Richard Gasquet next.
[caption id="attachment_161" align="alignright" width="293" caption="Monfils shows the anguish that French fans and players have at this year's tournament"]
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Gael Monfils, normally a lock for the semis, bowed out to a resurgent Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4. They key stat of the match was Monfils' inability to break Lopez's serve. He went 0/5 on break chances. Lopez was 2/3. Also, Monfils only won about 21% of Lopez's first serves, not a good number. Lopez will Face Big John Isner next.
Gilles Simon was stomped by Juan Monaco 6-4 6-0. Nothing worse than getting bageled on a home court in front of French Fans. Boo's were heard by the middle of the second set. Big Stat of the match was Simon's inability to get into Monaco's service games. He had zero break chances. Simon definitely disappointed himself, but more importantly, his fans. Monaco will take on Mardy Fish, who is looking for a QF berth to reach the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time.
Nicolas Mahut's tournament came to an end with a 6-4 6-4 loss to David Ferrer. The match was a close one, with Ferrer converting 2/5 break points, and Mahut going 0/2. The biggest stat of the match was Mahut's inability to win on his second serves. Mahut only won 44% of his second serves, which is the main reason he lost. Ferrer will face a tricky opponent in Alexandr Dolgopolov next round.
Career Journeyman Jeremy Chardy's Paris run came to an end with a 6-2 6-4 loss to Andy Murray. Murray has now won 16 straight matches after his loss to Rafael Nadal in the U.S. Open Semis. The matches most important stat was Chardy's inability to win his own and Murray's second serves. Chardy was under 25% returning second serves and under 35% on his own. In a battle of the Andy's, Andy Murray will take on Andy Roddick next round, for first name bragging rights, and a QF berth.
#9 seed and World Tour Final hopeful Nicolas Almagro was upset by Andreas Seppi 6-3 7-5. His hopes of a Finals berth are dashes. Seppi will take on the lone French hopeful Jo-Willy Tsonga next.
Tomorrow will feature an all Serbian affair with Novak Djokovic facing off against childhood friend Viktor Troicki. Other interesting match ups are Roger Federer taking on Richard Gasquet. Federer will be looking for some redemption after Gasquet ousted Fed from Rome earlier this year. Isner-Lopez will also be a pretty good match.
Here are some highlights from the Federer-Mannarino match which Federer won 6-2 6-3 earlier today:
Predictions:
Federer d. Gasquet 6-4 6-3
Andy d. Andy. Murray wins Andy bragging rights 6-2 6-4
Djokovic d. Troicki 6-1 6-4
Tsonga d. Seppi 6-4 7-6
Fish swims by Monaco 6-2 6-3
Isner d. Lopez 7-6 6-7 7-5
Will there be any upsets tomorrow?
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