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NO SPOILERS 🎥

If you don't want to see the results yet, and want to catch up with the highlights, stop scrolling now! (If these links have been taken down by the ATP, tap the ‘view in browser’ button at the top of this email and there should be updated links):

Dimitrov 🎥 Cilic

Djokovic 🎥 Dzumhur

Fognini 🎥 Federer

Isner 🎥 Khachanov

Coric 🎥 Thiem

Zverev 🎥 Schwartzman

Sock 🎥 Jaziri

Anderson 🎥 Nishikori

RESULTS 🎾

💥 = Beatdown \\ 🤕 = Injury \\ ‼️ = Upset

Featured Matches:

Federer d Fognini: 6-4, 6-3

Key Moments & 📊’s:

Set 1: Federer started well, easily taking care of his first service game before breaking Fognini for a 2*-1 lead. Fognini looked a little clueless from the baseline, missing a lot on his forehand side in the early stages.

Set 1: Fognini found himself in more trouble serving at 3*-1. The Italian had finally started playing some better tennis to set up some game points. But when Fognini faced the 2nd break point of the game, his forehand, once again, let him down with a tame, error landing half way up the net. Federer was cruising with a double break.

Set 1: But in the very next game, the more productive side of Fognini’s mercurial talent showed up. The Italian broke Federer with a wonderful backhand down the line and reduced the deficit to just a single break.

Set 1: With Federer serving for the set at 5*-4, Fed hit two double faults in a row to get into a 15-40 hole. But three Fognini’s errors, along with a nice aggressive series of forehands from Federer, dug him out of the hole, and set up a one set lead.

Set 1: Just like in the early rounds in Basel last week, Federer’s first serve in % was abysmal at 36%. Especially at the end of the set, Federer had made just 3/12 first serves in between the 4*-3 and 6*-4 games. Fognini wasn’t much better, landing 46% of his own first serves in.

Set 2: Fognini was forced to save an early break point at 1-1, holding for 2-1*. But the pressure kept piling up, with Federer creating more break chances in Fognini’s next service game at 2-2. A great sneak into the net to put away a volley set up another break point, and the Swiss took a 3*-2 lead.

Set 2: A poor game from Federer on serve at 4*-3 offered up a couple of break back points for Fognini. But four, timely, big serves in a row got the Swiss out of trouble to lead 5*-3.

Set 2: After Federer hit a ridiculous backhand return ace (GIF below), Fognini imploded while serving to stay in the match. Federer converted the first of his 3 match points and wrapped up a routine win.

Overall, a shaky first set from both players, but the 2nd was much improved from Federer (and still pretty poor from Fognini). After struggling on serve in the opening set, Federer lost just 4 points on serve in the 2nd, and landed a much better 71% of his first serves in (and didn’t lose a single point on 2nd serve).

🎾

Djokovic d Dzumhur: 6-1, 2*-1 Ret’d

(Dzumhur 🤕 = Lower back)

Key Moments & 📊’s:

Set 1: Djokovic looked incredibly comfortable early on, holding his own serve with ease and creating plenty of chances in the Dzumhur service games. This kind of matchup usually ends up looking like a heavyweight (Novak) vs featherweight (Dzumhur) boxing sparring session, with regard to weight of shot and depth. Dzumhur really had no answer for Djokovic’s bigger and better groundstrokes, with Novak grabbing the early break (3*-1) after Dzumhur tried to do too much on a forehand (not for the first time).

Set 1: Despite being consistently under the cosh, Dzumhur bravely tried to resist the double break at 1*-4, coming up with some great defence to save 4 break points. Unfortunately, a back issue seemed to flare up for the Bosnian, who finally relented on the 5th break point, slipping to a 1-5 deficit. Novak routinely served out the set and looked in total control. Djokovic finished the set with 12 winners to 8 unforced errors, Dzumhur with 6 winners to 15 errors. Good set from Novak, but the Serb never really had to get out of second gear.

Set 2: The 2nd set started in similar fashion to the 1st, with Djokovic securing the early break after a Dzumhur forehand sailed wide. Unfortunately Dzumhur’s back was getting worse and worse, and he retired 1-2* down, thereby ending Novak’s practice session-esque hit.

Also:

Cilic d Dimitrov: 7-6(5), 6-4

Some good signs for both, which may sound strange given Grigor lost in straight sets. Dimitrov’s backhand still let him down for large portions of this match, and Agassi has his work cut out in this regard during the off season. But his big point play and overall mentality looked better than it has done for much of this season. Dimitrov saved 13/15 break points in the match, showing some mental fortitude which has been sorely missed in recent months. As for Cilic, he absolutely deserved the win today, creating far more chances on his opponents serve (15 BP’s vs 5 BP’s for Dimitrov), and, more often than not, looking in charge in the rallies. One negative for Cilic? Had his knee treated for some pain. Not ideal when you have to face Djokovic next.

Thiem d Coric: 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5

The first set of this match was a marker of how far Coric has come as a player in the past year. Thiem was the better player for large parts of the first 10 or 11 games, creating 3 early break points (Coric saved all 3) and looking very comfortable on serve (facing 0 break points). The Austrian won a solid 72% of his 1st serve points, and an impressive 68% of his 2nd serve points, and seemed poised to convert his early superiority into a one set lead. But Coric weathered the storm, and was the more consistent player in the tiebreaker, losing 2 of his service points compared to 4 for Thiem.

After surrendering the close first set, Thiem responded fantastically, dialling up the pace and depth on his groundstrokes. Unlike the 1st set, Thiem converting his early pressure, and break points, for a 3*-1 lead. And for the rest of the set, Thiem never relented, going onto close it out 6-2, with an impressive 8 winners, to just 1 unforced error. Coric’s level had dropped, and the Croat had started to struggle to land first serves (43% first serves in vs 64% in the 1st set).

The 3rd set featured the players exchanging breaks of serve non-stop, with both guys converting early break points with booming, down the line backhands (GIFS below). Thiem then managed to break once more for a 4*-3 lead after Coric’s forehand, which has improved so much this year, completely broke down. The break-fest that was the 3rd set continued, with Thiem donating another break straight back with a string of his own poor forehands, before he finally managed to hold serve and then grab the decisive break to serve for the match at 6*-5. Thiem then prevailed through yet another tight game to take the win.

Zverev d Schwartzman: 6-4, 6-2 💥

Very solid match from Zverev, who played the big points with an impenetrable focus, saving 4/4 BP’s in style, while also converting 3/6 BP’s on his opponents serve. Schwartzman did what he always does and returned 2nd serves impressively, winning 60% of 2nd serve return points overall, and looking like the favourite in almost every rally that didn’t start with a successful, big Zverev serve. But Zverev landed too many of these big bombs to allow his opponent a consistent foothold, especially in the pressure moments (Schwartzman only won 6/38 points when Zverev landed with his 1st serve).

Khachanov d Isner: 6-4, 6-7(9), 7-6(8) (Minor 🤕 = Khachanov: shoulder)

Big win for Khachanov, especially given that he probably should have won the match in straight sets. Isner stuck around impressively in the 2nd set tiebreaker and 3rd set. Khachanov was forced to overcome missed match points in the 2nd set breaker, followed by saving a match point in the 3rd set breaker, all the while dealing with a minor shoulder issue. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this match was that, before coming through such a tight, tiebreak heavy match, Khachanov had lost his last 7 deciding set tiebreaks in a row! The young Russian will therefore be pleased that he stayed tough and closed out a well deserved win. Isner’s long match, warrior mentality was once again impressive, but the absence of any consistent return game made life incredibly hard for the tall American.

Sock d Jaziri: 6-0, 6-4 💥

Jack Sock has won back-to-back matches for the first time in 2018 🎉. Ticker tape parade aside, Sock played very well, albeit against an opponent he really should be beating anyway. Set one featured a flawless bagel dish out out by the American, serving well and managing to find his forehand on just about every point. I’m convinced one of the larger reasons Sock does so well in Paris is because it’s the perfect mix of conditions for him. Slow enough that he can run around his backhand, shielding his weakness. And fast, and spin-friendly, enough that his forehand is still devastating in its offence. Sock didn’t face a single break point today, and just dominated Jaziri’s service games, who was having a nightmare trying to land first serves in (33% for the 1st set and 56% for the 2nd).

Nishikori d Anderson: 6-4, 6-4

Today Nishikori was a different player compared to the loser of the Vienna final 4 days ago. He returned serve excellently, something he failed to do when he met Anderson on Sunday, putting his opponent under pressure early in the 1st, and late in the 2nd, sets. Kei came up clutch with some fantastic returns to break Kando in the first game of the opener, and then again to grab the decisive break to serve for the match in the 2nd. The back-to-back big returns, in the penultimate game of the match in particular, were special. Nishikori also looks like he may have subtly tweaked his service motion (I’ll dig deeper on this later if I confirm this), which seemed to be paying dividends in the form of a much improved serving performance compared to Vienna. Kei won 25/29 1st serve points and an impressive 15/22 of his 2nd serve points.

SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮

— Dimitrov with a crazy wrist-flick pass (slow-mo below).

— A truly amazing shot. How he got the required power on this is beyond me.

— Wasn’t a bad approach by Dzumhur, but coming into Djokovic’s backhand with anything less than a blazing comet, is usually ill-advised.

— 1. I love the sneak into the net, and wish more players did this. 2. Perfect volley technique from Novak.

— Pretty sure Dzumhur’s backhand was going wide, but the pace and touch was excellent. Covers the court so fast.

— Wonderful backhand from Thiem. Crushed.

— I've only ever seen Thiem + Muster (thanks Mert Ertunga for reminding me about Muster) pull this off. The open stance, single-handed sliding backhand (with two planted feet) is such an amazing shot & so much harder than double hander equivalent. You don't have the other arm to stabilise the requisite fast torso rotation. Relies on SO much arm/shoulder strength.

— Damn impressive way to break serve by Coric. Scorching backhand down the line.

— Thiem: “Anything you can do Borna…” Breaking straight back with his own backhand rocket.

— Not a bad first point of the match from Federer.

— Soft hands from Fognini.

— Stunning backhand from Fognini to get one of the breaks back in the 1st set.

— The back spin Federer gets on this half-volley is incredible.

— Great move in here from Fed to set up another break point.

— Federer with a LUDICROUS return. Just swats this body serve away.

— Fognini: *grabs balls* “WTF”

— Part 1/2 of how Nishikori won the match (vs Anderson).

— Part 2/2.

Back-to-back great returns off Anderson first serves. No mean feat.

INTERVIEW & PRESS BEST BITS 🎤

Djokovic on getting the No.1 ranking: (Video of Presser🎥)

“I’m very proud of it, but I haven’t been focusing on it at the moment because we’re still in the middle of a tournament. But hopefully the year end ranking stays the same and then I’ll be able to reflect on it, and enjoy it then.” “Not concerned with missing match play (with Dzumhur retiring), I’ve played lots of matches recently.” “(Getting to No.1) seemed incredibly improbable 5 months ago.”

— Novak being cautious RE: end of year No.1. Federer seemingly unaware.

Federer on his goals for the next few weeks:

“I didn‘t come here to win Paris, my goal is to win in London.” Source “The walkover from Raonic was great news for me, I went straight to the massage table.” Source

OOP - PARIS MASTERS - 1/4 FINALS (FRIDAY) ⏰

Match to watch: 🔥

—

COURT CENTRAL

— (2pm local, 1pm UK, 9am EST) —

🇩🇪 A. Zverev vs Khachanov 🇷🇺 (H2H: 2-0) (Hard Court H2H: 1-0) 🔥

Prediction: Zverev in 2 (Khachanov looked v tired/sore after his marathon vs Isner)

🇦🇹 Thiem vs Sock 🇺🇸 (H2H: 2-1) (Hard Court H2H: 2-1) 🔥

Prediction: Thiem in 3

🇷🇸 Djokovic vs Cilic 🇭🇷 (H2H: 15-2) (Hard Court H2H: 11-1) 🔥

Prediction: Djokovic in 2

🇨🇭 Federer vs Nishikori 🇯🇵 (H2H: 6-2) (Hard Court H2H: 5-1) 🔥

Prediction: Federer in 3 (won’t be surprised if Nishikori wins this)

EXTRAS 🔍📊🎤

— Dimitrov will finish the season at No.19 in the world following his loss to Cilic today. For a player who suffered no injury, that is a pretty big drop off (16 places vs last years finish). He will be hoping his new partnership with Agassi bears fruit in early 2019.

— Jimmy “I’ll play every tournament under the sun” Connors strikes again.

— After winning the first set vs Dzumhur today. Djokovic has now won the most consecutive sets (30) in his career.

— Murray looking good in a practice session. Also wearing Nike shoes, meaning his Under Armour deal will likely not be renewed at the end of this year. Source

— After beating Coric today, Thiem has made his first Hard Court, Masters 1000 quarter-final since Cincinnati 2017.

— Fed carrying his Basel serving issues over to Paris.

— Cilic’s No.1 fan 🎥

— Not ideal if your next opponent is Novak Djokovic.

NEW BALLS PLEASE 👀

— TFW you get so annoyed with players exploiting your single handed backhand that you switch to a double hander just to see what all the fuss is about.

— Coric losing his damn mind after missing another forehand.

If you’d like to get the Recaps for the rest of the weeks action in Paris (as well as the ATP Finals in London in 10 days), you can subscribe here. It’s free for the first month so you can try it out and make sure it’s worth the 💰. You won’t get the Friday (tomorrow), Saturday or Sunday issues unless you’re a member.

Subscribe - first month FREE

GAME, SET, MATCH 👋

— The Racquet is created, and written, by Matt.

— You can find me on Twitter here.

See you tomorrow for Quarter-Finals Day in Paris.