Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are on for a semi-final collision course in Paris next week as the draw was made for the last Masters 1000 event of 2019.
The draw has seen Federer and Nadal being drawn in the bottom-half of the draw, opposite to top seed and last year’s finalist Novak Djokovic.
Nadal, who was recently married, will face a qualifier or Adrian Mannarino with a potential third round encounter with Stan Wawrinka on the cards.
Should Nadal win his opening two rounds, his projected quarter-finalist is defending champion and 8th seed Karen Khachanov.
Despite a relatively disappointing season, Khachanov will look to end the year strong as he has a chance to dent Matteo Berrettini’s London hopes next week.
They are set to meet in the third round, with the Italian’s place at the ATP World Tour Finals still not confirmed as he looks to end a career-best season.
As for Federer, he’ll look to end the year strongly having only won one Masters 1000 event all season as he plays Nikoloz Basilashvili or Radu Albot in his first match.
Opponents such as Gael Monfils and London contender Alexander Zverev will look to stand in the Swiss’ way of a semi-final showdown with rival Nadal.
After exiting Basel at the first hurdle, Zverev will look for a strong week as he looks to qualify for the event that he won last year.
First up for the German will be either Borna Coric or Fernando Verdasco with Fabio Fognini potentially waiting in the last 16.
Meanwhile in the top half of the draw Novak Djokovic will look to gain some momentum back as he will lose his world number one ranking after Paris.
The Serb’s last eight opponent could be the same player who he lost to in his last event, Stefanos Tsitsipas. Djokovic could have to face the likes of Richard Gasquet and Diego Schwartzman before getting there though.
As for Tsitsipas, he could be the one to stop Roberto Bautista Agut’s ATP Finals charge as they are set to meet in the third round.
A tough match against Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe is an obstacle the Greek will have to overcome first in order to reach the third.
The other quarter of the draw sees Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem projected to face each other with the latter potentially facing Milos Raonic in his first match.
Here is the full draw, with play beginning on Monday:
Paris Bercy singles main draw, via @MamruthRFI pic.twitter.com/XEXhE3DMjY
— Michal Samulski (@MichalSamulski) October 25, 2019
