Five Players will now battle for the remaining two spots at the ATP World Tour finals after Lucas Pouille and Roberto Bautista Agut were edged out of contention at the BNP Paribas Masters.
Going into Day three at the Paris Masters home favourite Pouille knew that he had to beat Feliciano Lopez in his second round clash and hope that Ivo Karlovic could beat Marin Cilic to keep his London hopes alive. The Frenchman did his part of the deal as the world number 17 managed to beat Lopez 6-7(1) 6-3 6-4 in just over two hours. In the battle of the big servers, Pouille hit 21 aces past the Spaniard to seal victory in a hard fought match.
However it wasn’t enough for the two time grand slam quarterfinalist as Marin Cilic beat his fellow Croatian rival Ivo Karlovic 7-6(6) 6-2 to seal Pouille’s fate. The former US Open champion managed to win 86% of 1st service points to seal his place in the third round. Cilic’s win means he is 984 points ahead of Pouille, which is an insurmountable lead. After the match Cilic acknowledged his good run of form, “I’m really excited and satisfied with my form, especially these past few months. I’ve been trying for a long time to find that consistency at the big tournaments. That was a goal of mine at the beginning of the season, so I’m just hoping to continue with good tennis here and make it to London.”
The big serving Croatian will now play David Goffin in the next round after he kept his London hopes alive with a 7-6(5) 6-3 win over doubles specialist Nicolas Mahut. The Belgian broke four times en route to victory and as a result sets up a must win clash against Cilic. The head to head record currently stands at 3-0 to Goffin.
Pouille wasn’t the only one who’s London chances were dashed as Roberto Bautista Agut lost to Gilles Simon 2-6 6-1 7-6(6) to bring his season to a climatic end. Simon broke five times to end the Spaniard’s season. Simon will hope to end another London hopeful’s 2016 campaign tomorrow when he plays Tomas Berdych.
Other London contenders saw Jo-Wilfred Tsonga keep his hopes alive after a 6-3 6-4 win over Albert Ramos-Viñolas. The experienced Frenchman needs to win the Paris title to keep his London hopes alive. He will now play Kei Nishikori in the third round, who dispatched Viktor Troicki 6-2 7-5. Finally the final London contender saw Jack Sock beat Dominic Thiem 6-2 6-4. A fatigued Thiem has now given players like Tomas Berdych and David Goffin a lifeline after his loss today.
How the Race can be completed tomorrow?
Both Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic can seal their places at the ATP world tour finals in London tomorrow at the BNP Paribas Masters, here is how:
- Dominic Thiem can qualify for the season ending finale, if Kei Nishikori beats Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Gilles Simon beats Tomas Berdych.
- Marin Cilic can join Thiem if the results above occur and if Cilic can beat David Goffin for the first time in his career.
Finally in other results Pablo Cuevas annihilated Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-2 6-1. Cuevas will now play former finalist Milos Raonic in the third round. Also John Isner shocked David Ferrer on Wednesday 7-6(4) 7-6(4). He could play Stan Wawrinka in the next round.
