Machac Ends Jacquet's Paris Run to Set Up Fils Showdown

Tomas Machac ended Kyrian Jacquet's dream run at the Rolex Paris Masters, beating the French wild card 7-6, 6-1 on Court No. 1 on Monday. Jacquet, playing in the main draw of the Paris Masters for the first time, pushed the Czech hard in a long opening set before Machac pulled away, converting his first two breaks to cruise through the second set in one hour and 21 minutes. The win means there will be no all-French showdown in the second round, but it sets up an intriguing clash with Arthur Fils, who enters the tournament on Wednesday. Fils, the sixth seed, received a first-round bye and confirmed on Sunday that he will play in Paris after a leg scare forced his retirement in the Basel quarter-finals. The Frenchman has plenty at stake this week: reaching the quarter-finals could finally seal his place at the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin. Machac, ranked No. 69, will have other ideas, and his confident display against Jacquet suggests he will not simply make up the numbers.