Open 13 Provence Day 1 Schedule of Play

Monday, 17 February 2020 at 12:00

Gasquet, with the racket behind his body, prepares a backhand shot

An abundance of French player fills out the first schedule of play at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille which starts today.

The Open 13 Provence tournament which is held every year in Marseille usually features a lackluster field because most top players skip it to prepare for Dubai which is played the week after. However this time the Marseille crowd will be thrilled to welcome the likes of Tsitsipas and Medvedev.

Sadly neither of them plays today but the Marseille crowd will have an abundance of French players to see. The first one is Elliot Benchetrit who plays Norbert Gombos. It's a solid game to get the tournament underway but most people will ahead to a great round one matchup between Gasquet and Ymer.

Gasquet had to retire two weeks ago in Montpellier because of injury so many wonder is he ready to compete now. Ymer has had a great year so far with impressive performances in Australia. He continued his good showing in Montpellier and Rotterdam so he will look to continue that good trend.

An all-French duel will start the afternoon portion of the schedule of play in Marseille. Gregoire Barrere will play Paire. Benoit has struggled lately after a good start in Auckland. It's even more surprising because French players love playing indoors. The crowd will love the match and it will be interesting to see whether Paire can break the negative streak.

The program will be closed by Fucsovics and Bublik who play the last match of the day. It should be a good as both are in good form and posses a devastating serve.