I spent a few days in Paris last week for the BNP Paribas Masters, the ninth and final Masters 1000 event of the season. Novak Djokovic captured the title, dispatching Andy Murray 6-2 6-4 in the final. Enjoy my pictures and recaps of day 1 to day 4.
And that’s now 19 victories in a row for world number one Novak Djokovic. Gilles Simon broke Djokovic’s serve first, but the Serb immediately broke him twice to win the first set 6-3. Both players kept struggling on their serve in the second set, Djokovic dropped serve four (!) times, but each time Simon lost his serve immediately after. I have to say that match was pretty boring to watch. 6-3 7-5 for the Serb who’ll face Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.
The first set between Gasquet and Nishikori was without a doubt the best I’ve watched so far this week, with beautiful rallies and winners from both players. Gasquet had to save a few break points at 5-5, but won the set 7-6(3). Nishikori then received some treatment on court and retired after Gasquet’s double break in the second set. The Frenchman now leads their head-to-head 6-0.
Gasquet, who looked relaxed and happy to play in front of the French crowd, will next face Andy Murray, who demolished David Goffin 6-1 6-0 earlier in the day.
I didn’t manage to get Davis Cup final tickets, so I was eager to watch this third round match between Andy Murray and David Goffin. But there has been problems all week to enter the stadium – players scheduled first on centre court must be thrilled to play in front of hundred people – and when I finally managed to reeach the court first set was already over!
No idea what happened to Goffin, perhaps he was still asleep, but Murray destroyed him 6-1 6-0 in under an hour. There’s really not much to say about the match because it seemed there was only one player on the court. The highlight of the game occured when a ball girl hit Murray with a ball. The Scot later said jokingly that perhaps she doesn’t like him, and this little convo ensued on twitter:
Some excuses to @andy_murray , ballkids are proud to serve you on court ? pic.twitter.com/9T4h22NCgt
— Arthur Bongrand (@ArthurBongrand) November 5, 2015
@ArthurBongrand adorable ☺️ gave me a little fright but it woke me up?see you tomorrow lorenza
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) November 5, 2015
Murray will next face Richard Gasquet for a place in the semifinals.
It seems the good old Rafa is back! He had to battle hard to beat Rosol in Basel last week, but today it was a routine 6-2 6-2 win in 61 minutes. A good attitude, great forehands, a few aces when needed and a smiling Rafa who signed dozens of autographs for the kids at the end of the match.
