Djokovic Wins Tight Return Over Fucsovics At Paris Masters; Sinner v Alcaraz Wed.

After seven weeks away, Novak Djokovic made his return to tennis a successful one Monday at the Paris Indoor Masters. The 5-time tournament champion held off a strong charge from Marton Fucsovics for a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win in two hours.

After getting blown out in the the first set, Fucsovics improved his play in the second. Following an early trade of breaks, Djokovic finally pulled away for the win in the third.

“It was great to be back on the court after almost two months without competition,” Djokovic said. “I did not expect anything but I knew this was not going to be an easy match. Marton is a very talented player, he has a lot of quality. It was a great fight. I couldn’t break his serve, he was playing with a lot of precision and we pushed each other to the limit. It was a great opening match for me. I am very pleased.”

Djokovic is also fight Daniil Medvedev for the year-end No. 1 ranking this month. A strong performance this week could wrap it up.

“It is just about spending time on court, finding that match play intensity and playing more points,” he said. “The more matches I play, I think I am going to get better. I know myself well, I was in this situation before, quite a lot of times, so hopefully experience can play a role in doing the job well.”

In the third round, Djokovic will next face either Adrian Mannarino or Gael Monfils.

No. 6 seed Casper Ruud bolsters his Turin hopes with a solid win over Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-0.

In first round action, seeds Felix Auger-Aliassime, Diego Schwartzman, Grigor Dimitrov and Monfils were all winners.

Teen Carlos Alcaraz came from a set down to defeat Pierre Hugues-Herbert in the match of the day 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 7-5. He’ll move on to meet Jannik Sinner tomorrow in a good one.

American men maxed out going 4-1 on the day the lone loss being Frances Tiafoe who fell to his countryman Marcos Giron.

Tomorrow also sees the return of defending champion Daniil Medvedev meeting Ilya Ivashka. Stefanos Tsitsipas opens play against Alexei Popyrin and Alexander Zverev is also in action.

PARIS INDOORS WENDESDAY SCHEDULE
Court Central Starts At 11:00 Am
R32 (Q) Hugo Gaston v 12 Pablo Carreno Busta
R32 16 Grigor Dimitrov v Karen Khachanov
R32 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas v (LL) Alexei Popyrin
R32 Adrian Mannarino v 15 Gael Monfils
Not Before 7:30 Pm
R32 Dusan Lajovic v 4 Alexander Zverev
R32 Ilya Ivashka v 2 Daniil Medvedev

Court 1 Starts At 11:00 Am
R32 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime v (LL) Dominik Koepfer
R32 Taylor Fritz v 5 Andrey Rublev
R32 10 Cameron Norrie v Reilly Opelka
R32 8 Jannik Sinner v Carlos Alcaraz
R32 (Q) Marcos Giron v 11 Diego Schwartzman
R32 Sebastian Korda v Marin Cilic

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