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Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters brings us yet another exciting order of play, featuring Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Juan Martin del Potro and Lucas Pouille.

Juan Martin del Potro .v. Robin Haase: London calling
The early exits of Alexander Zverev and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga have opened up the RPM draw for Juan Martin del Potro, and also given him quite a boost in terms of the complicated calculations that are in all tennis fans’ heads at this time of year with the end-of-season Masters on the horizon. The Argentinean has been surfing the crest of a wave since the US Open, taking the title in Stockholm and reaching the final in Vienna. Robin Haase now stands in his way of yet more points in the quest for a ticket to London, and while the Dutchman will be brimming with confidence after knocking off Sasha Zverev, the head-to-head between the two currently stands at 3-0 in favour of the Tower of Tandil.



Dominic Thiem .v. Fernando Verdasco: desperate for a win, but for different reasons
On the one hand, you have Dominic Thiem. The world No. 6’s ATP Tour Finals berth is already secure, but he has been struggling since the US Open, having managed one solitary win in four tournaments. And on the other hand, you have 33-year-old Fernando Verdasco, looking to prove that he can still cut it at the business end of a tennis week. The Madrid lefty recently made the semi-final in Stockholm, falling in an agonising third-set tie-breaker to Juan Martin del Potro. This is just the second time that the Günther Bresnik-trained Austrian has crossed swords with Verdasco – the first went the way of the Spaniard at Wimbledon two years ago.

Jack Sock .v. Lucas Pouille: high intensity
"A different approach mentally," is how Lucas Pouille describes his focus after coming back from a knee injury and taking the title in Vienna. The 23-year-old from the north of France currently seems one of the fittest of the bunch as the season draws to a close, playing with what he calls "high intensity. I’m focusing on the moment. I’ve got another tough match ahead of me on Thursday, so you need to make sure you don’t look too far ahead and just concentrate on the here and the now." Jack Sock sits just four places below Pouille in the rankings (at Nos.18 and 22 respectively), and the two have yet to meet on the ATP circuit. The main obstacle for the 25-year-old from Lincoln, Nebraska could well be fatigue, after it took him 2 hours and 42 minutes on Wednesday evening and even a visit from the trainer physio to see off Kyle Edmund.


Rafael Nadal .v. Pablo Cuevas: homing in on the title
It was never really in any doubt, but as soon as Rafael Nadal hit his first rally on Wednesday, it was clear that he had come to Paris on top form and highly motivated. The Majorcan has now guaranteed the year-end No.1 spot for the fourth time in his career, and will be expected to extend his lead still further on Thursday with a win over Pablo Cuevas. The Uruguayan, currently ranked No.36 in the world, has been enjoying his time at the Rolex Paris Masters after finally ending a run of 10 straight defeats stretching back to Roland-Garros, giving him the type of confidence he will need if he is to beat Nadal, who has got the better of him on three occasions in the past. Cuevas does have a win to his name against the Spaniard though, on the Rio clay in 2016. “I can put all the No.1 talk behind me now and just concentrate on my tennis, and playing better and better with each passing day," Nadal said. "Pablo is always a difficult opponent. I’ll need to play well against him and I hope that I’ll be in a position to do just that." And if he does, he will be one step nearer to capturing one of the few ATP Masters 1000 titles that still eludes him.

Elsewhere…

Also on the menu this Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters, we have an appetiser for the forthcoming Davis Cup final, with David Goffin – still in the running for the ATP World Tour Finals – taking on Julien Benneteau. Serbian qualifier Filip Krajinovic faces Nicolas Mahut, John Isner is up against Grigor Dimitrov, while Roberto Bautista-Agut will do battle with Marin Cilic.