A day late but here you go: The Paris Draw. The draw is fairly balanced, but with Reeshie's withdrawal it really paves the way for Fed. But the story isn't so much who will win the tourney, though my money is on Muzzah and Fed. To me, the story is the Race to Shanghai and who will take the final qualifying spots. Yet to secure spots: A-Rod, JMDP, Gilly, and Ferrer.
Rafa's Quarter: He's got Marat, LaMonf, Big Berd, and Kolya. It shouldn't be too tough, but if Big Berd starts serving lights out and doesn't give Rafa a chance to break, that'll be a tough match.
Muzzah's Quarter: Andy's having a Dinara like last quarter of the season so can you really not pick him to come out of his quarter? There are some tough potential matchups with Dr. Ivo, Crazy Train, and Fat Dave.
Nole's Quarter: This is the one's a mine field, with A-Rod, Gilly, and Jo-Willy, not to mention some sleepers like Janko, FeLo, and Radek. I'm still going to go with Nole here. He's rested and I have to think he's hungry. If he's not then he's not the guy I thought he was. I think Gilly and Jo are tired, so I give an outside chance to A-Rod to make it out of here too.
Fed's Quarter: Easy peasy lemon squeezy. He's got The Evil One, which could be tricky given how well he's played indorrs, but past that I don't see anyone even coming close to challenging him. He's got all the slumpers: Ferrer, Blah, Reeshie before he withdrew and now will be replaced by a Lucky Loser.
I don't know, this one is a bit of a crapshoot. But I think I'm going to go for Muzzah again.
