Julien Benneteau makes the best of his last appearance in Paris-Bércy: The Frenchman is in the quarter-finals and will meet Marin Cilic.
Maybe the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament will end with a final between Rafael Nadal and Marin Cilic, the two top seeded players in the tableau after Roger Federer’s rejection. The Spaniard and the Croatian left a sovereign impression, even though Nadal had temporary problems against Pablo Cuevas in the round of sixteen with his forehand volley. Fortunately, the industry leader has enough alternative weapons in its arsenal.
For Nadal, it’s now against Filip Krajinovic – with clearly distributed roles. The Serbian will play for the first time at this level in a quarter-finals, but there is no surprise.
Marin Cilic, on the other hand, is confronted with Julien Benneteau, who has a really nice last hurrah in Paris! … granted. The journey began for the veteran with a safe victory against Denis Shapovalov, then Benneteau informed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga that London would be held without him in 2017.
Julien Benneteau then made the early masterpiece in the round of sixteen on Thursday, leaving David Goffin no chance. Whether Yannick Noah Benneteau’s match will suffice to narrow the selection for a single match in the Davis Cup final against Belgium is doubtful. But the French fans, who had to complain about Lucas Pouille’s death, are already turning their attention to Benneteau. And his chivalrous efforts to finally win a tournament.
The Frenchman was in a final ten times, but he also left the court as a loser. The chances of a success in Paris-Bércy are, of course, hard to describe with whole numbers, but perhaps Benneteau will benefit from the tiredness of the remaining players. Last week in Basel, the 35-year-old made it out of qualifying into the last sixteen, Juan Martin del Potro was defeated there.
The match against Marin Cilic is scheduled for 7:30 pm at the Center Court.
Here is the single panel in Paris-Bércy