Tomic win sets up Wawrinka clash
Bernard Tomic has opened his Paris Masters campaign with a commanding victory over Fabio Fognini. Next up is fourth seed Stan Wawrinka.
Paris, France, 3 November 2015 | AFP
Bernard Tomic brushed aside Fabio Fognini in under an hour to set up a second round Paris Masters clash with French Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
The Queenslander needed just 56 minutes to see off Fognini 6-3 6-2 with six double-faults from the often casual Italian contributing to the loss.
Wawrinka has a 5-1 record against Tomic, with the pair last meeting in Davis Cup tie more than a year ago.
Novak Djokovic will open his campaign for a third consecutive Paris crown against Thomaz Bellucci after the Brazilian earned a first-round win on Monday.
The Brazilian defeated Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4 6-4 and will now challenge the world No.1 and top seed who is aiming to stretch a 10-match win streak at the Bercy Arena and starting after a bye give to all 16 seeds.
Seven-time Swiss Open champion Roger Federer, the third seed, will face Italian Andreas Seppi for the fourth time this season after Seppi put out Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 7-5 6-3.
Seppi ambushed the Swiss in an Australian Open third-round upset – and Federer has been piling on the revenge wins ever since.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion beat Seppi in the Indian Wells third round and the final at Halle, Germany in June prior to Wimbledon.
Federer comes to Paris to play the last event of the ATP regular season riding a wave of confidence after his 6-3 5-7 6-3 defeat of Rafael Nadal in the final of his home event in Basel on Sunday.
His sixth title of the season has got Federer keen to get stuck into Paris with the eight-man World Tour Finals in London looming from 15 November.
“The confidence is good, no doubt about it,” said Federer. “I had a good reaction this week after losing early in Shanghai.
“I needed to get back the feel of winning. At one point in the week I was quite tired, I was playing with a lot of pressure trying to get to the final four. But now I feel the best I have all week.
“The body has gotten used to match play again after all these weeks when I didn’t have enough matches. Now I feel like Paris is not a problem anymore.
“I’m happy about feeling pretty good right now.”