2010 BNP Paribas Masters: Preview of Wednesday’s evening session
The top seed and world number two Roger Federer will take on Richard Gasquet on the Court Central in an evening session match at the 2010 BNP Paribas Masters Men’s singles tournament on Wednesday. Richard of France although triumphed in the pair’s first
clash back in 2005 but has lost in six since then.
The Swiss tennis maestro is playing here on the eighth occasion in his career. His previous best results here are three quarter final finishes back in 2002, 03 and 08. Federer has so far won a total of four singles titles this season at the Australian Open,
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Cincinnati, Stockholm and Basel.
The 29 year old comes in with a nine match winning streak. He recently captured his fourth crown of the season on Sunday at his hometown tournament in Basel where he got the better of Novak Djokovic of Serbia in three sets. The final score line was 6-4,
3-6, 6-1. It was his eighth title battle of the season and 93rd overall.
He owns a win loss mark of 57-12 on the year and since losing the quarter final round at the grass court Grand Slam tournament in London, he has triumphed in 26 of 29 clashes on the tour.
The third highest ranked Frenchman, on the other hand, required only five match points to get past his compatriot foe Nicolas Mahut in three sets on Monday. The final match score was 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7). Richard is playing in Bercy on the first occasion since
finishing as a semi finalist back in 2007. The right hander made his debut here back in 2003 and was defeated by Gaudio in the opening round in straight sets.
The professional tennis player from France posted his best result of the year by winning a title in Nice after hammering Fernando Verdasco in straight sets. He has also advanced into the finals in Sydney, Gstaad and semi final in Metz so far in 2010.
The 24 year old is coming off his eighth ATP World Tour final eight of the season in Basel last week where he was toppled by Viktor Troicki. He enjoys a match record of 38-21 on the year and is the fourth French player to capture a crown in 2010 along with
Gilles Simon, Michael Llorda and Gael Monfils.
In the concluding match of the day on Court Central, the fourth seed Robin Soderling will meet Gilles Simon of France. The Swede leads the pair’s head to head series at 4-2 however he has always struggled versus the French player, losing sets in three of
his last four victories and Gilles’ two victories coming in straight sets. Simon has played well since the United States Open, triumphing in fourteen of eighteen clashes and upsetting the top twenty contenders last week on his way into the final four in Valencia.
Simon enters with a win loss mark of 23-16 on the season and posted his best result of the year by winning the crown in Metz back in September. He is coming off his semi final run in Valencia last week before losing at the hands of Granollers. He has also
reached the quarter final rounds in Eastbourne, Washington, Beijing as well as Montpellier so far in this season.
World number five Soderling, on the other hand, is coming off his seventh final four or better run of the year in Valencia last week where he was surpassed by David Ferrer. He stands at 1-3 in the finals in 2010.
Soderling is one of the five contenders on the ATP World Tour this season to record at least fifty clash victories. He owns a win loss mark of 51-20 on the year and won his fifth career ATP World Tour crown in Rotterdam earlier this season after dispatching
off Mikhail Youzhny.
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