The strangest qualification ever? Reilly Opelka finds loophole to reach Paris Masters main draw after withdrawing in qualies

Just before the start of the last Masters 1000 of the year at the Paris Masters, a peculiar situation occurred in the tournament's qualifiers, with Reilly Opelka as the protagonist. The American was scheduled to play the second round of qualifying this Sunday, but he withdrew from the match, giving Aleksandar Vukic a pass to the main draw without even stepping onto the court.

However, the striking situation came shortly after, when it was announced that Opelka would enter the main draw anyway as a lucky loser. With the draw already made, there was at least one guaranteed withdrawal from the main draw: the Czech Jakub Mensik – who withdrew from the tournament a couple of days ago after his withdrawal from the Swiss Indoors Open, which led him to end his season. Additionally, the Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi was also ruled out due to injury.

Knowing this, there were two lucky loser spots to be announced – in addition to the 7 players who qualified through the qualifiers. According to the tournament rules, lucky losers are defined by ranking among the players defeated in the second round of qualifying – among whom was Opelka (No. 62), who knew he was the highest-ranked player eliminated in the second round of qualifiers – and therefore had his spot secured even if he had been defeated by Vukic.

Thus, the American former world No. 17 did not even have to play against Vukic, as he knew he would have his spot secured regardless of the result. The 28-year-old thus took advantage of a loophole in the rules to withdraw from the qualifier and still enter the main draw, where he will face Corentin Moutet in the first round. Joining him as a lucky loser is Aleksandar Kovacevic (No. 65), the second highest-ranked player among those eliminated in the qualifier second round, who will face Miomir Kecmanovic.

The Paris Masters awarded 7 spots to players who participated in the qualifiers this weekend, and the main draw of the last Masters 1000 of the year is now completely determined. Among the notable names that entered the draw are Sebastian Korda (No. 56) and Tomás Martín Etcheverry (No. 60).

Some of the notable names eliminated from the qualifiers include the first seed Jenson Brooksby (No. 55), Adrian Mannarino (3rd seed, No. 58), Valentin Royer (10th, No. 69), and Botic van de Zandschulp (No. 82).

[Q] Sebastian Korda (No. 56) vs Lorenzo Sonego (No. 45)

[Q] Ethan Quinn (No. 71) vs Karen Khachanov (No. 13)

[Q] Damir Dzumhur (No. 63) vs Franciso Cerundolo (No. 21)

[Q] Francisco Comesaña (No. 64) vs Felix Auger-Aliassime (No. 12)

[Q] Jacob Fearnley (No. 81) vs Andrey Rublev (No. 15)

[Q] Tomás Martín Etcheverry (No. 60) vs Camilo Ugo Carabelli (No. 50)

[Q] Aleksandar Vukic (No. 100) vs Terence Atmane (No. 68)