Two players have yet to play a single match at the 2021 Provence Open 13 and they are not just any players. They are the number one and two seeds of the tournament, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas respectively.
Usually, when we talk about the boss at the Open 13 Provence, we refer to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who is a three-time winner in Marseille. But recently, he has given way to the man who has not lost a match on the courts of the Palais des Sports since his defeat by Nicolas Mahut in the first round of the 2018 edition: Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The Greek is not just the two-time title holder in Marseille. For the past two years, he has not conceded a single set in the 9th arrondissement of the Phocaean city. If he managed to (re)repeat the feat of going all the way, he would join a very private club, whose only members, three-time winners, are Marc Rosset, Tomas Enqvist and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Even better, he would open a new one, that of those who have won the Open 13 Provence three times in a row. And there, for the time being, he would be alone!
At the opposite end of the draw, at the very top, we find the Russian Daniil Medvedev, the number 1 seed. His last result, an opening loss in Rotterdam, was not very convincing, but the one before that was much more convincing: the final of the Australian Open, where he lost, albeit a bit heavily, to a certain? Novak Djokovic. Not so bad despite the defeat, especially when you consider that it was the culmination of a 20-match winning streak that began in the first round of the Paris Masters 1000.
In Marseille, on the other hand, the most French of the Russians is far less successful than his potential opponent in the final. While 2021 is the third edition in which he has participated in the final draw, he has never yet made it past the quarterfinals. That said, compared to 2017 and even 2020, he is not quite the same player. Whatever happens this week, Medvedev will become the world's new No. 2 next Monday, relegating Rafael Nadal to third place.
Tsitsipas and Medvedev could therefore - it would be beautiful! - to meet in the final. Today, their relations are cordial, but this was not always the case in the past. We remember a monumental spat at the end of a match in Miami. This would mean that a potential confrontation between the two on Sunday could be really explosive. But we'll talk about it at the end of the week if necessary...
