In the final of the last ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year in Paris-Bércy, there will be a surprise winner. For Jack Sock, even more than the title is at stake.
Filip Krajinovic has a rather impressive final series to defend: five times he stood in a final in Serbia in 2017, just as often he left the place as the winner. All right with the title in Paris-Bércy, huh? Not so fast. Krajinovic’s successes came in Heilbronn, Marburg, Biella in Italy, Rome and Almaty – all of them in Challenger tournaments.
7,200 US dollars were available for the last success in the Kazakh metropolis, Krajinovic has already won 418,450 euros as a finalist at the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year. That is about half of what the current number 77 has won in his career that started in 2008. Double prize money included. With the final entry, Krajinovic has already improved to 33rd place in the world rankings, and a triumph could even reach 25th place.
The fact that Filip Krajinovic is allowed to write history on Sunday at 3 p. m. in the Palais Omnisports (in our live ticker) is due to Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal due to injury. With Sam Querrey and John Isner in the final round, Krajinovic has taken two players out of the tournament who could have needed a win to qualify for the ATP final in London.
In any case, Jack Sock will try to end the French chain reaction: Juan Martin del Potro would have won against John Isner to win the ticket to London – the Argentinean lost in the quarter-finals. Isner, on the other hand, would have been stumbling into the O2 Arena with the tournament victory, and Jack Sock has this privilege now, quite unexpectedly.
In the annual ranking it is ranked 24th (!), but Pablo Carreno Busta could overtake Pablo Busta with the 1,000 points from Paris. And turn the Spaniard into a replacement for London. Sock ended Lucas Pouille’s advancement early on, also benefiting from Roger Federer’s rejection – after the original draw, a meeting with the Swiss in the last sixteen would have been appropriate. Sock lost to Federer in Indian Wells in the semi-finals, the best result of the American in a Masters category tournament.
Jack Sock also enters Sunday with an appealing series of finals: Right at the beginning of the year, the 25-year-old won against Joao Sousa in Auckland, and a few weeks later Sock profited from Milos Raonic’s absence in Delray Beach. By the way, Sock could end an impressive European series with a victory: The last 107 Masters 1000 and 107 Masters 1000 respectively. Grand Slam tournaments went to players from the “old” continent.
Here the single tableau in Paris-Bércy