The Masters France (sponsored by BNP Paribas ) was a professional tennis exhibition round-robin singles-only tournament, played on indoor hard courts , specifically Plexicushion . It was held in December at the Palais des Sports de Toulouse in Toulouse , France, in 2008 and 2009. The eight players qualified for the event were the top seven French players, based on their performance in the four Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournaments held in France, the Marseille Open 13 , the Metz Open de Moselle , the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon , and the Paris BNP Paribas Masters , and an eighth French player receiving a wild card .
9-542: In February 2008, during the 2008 Open 13 in Marseille , three former professional French tennis players, Jean-François Caujolle , Gilles Moretton and Jean-Louis Haillet announced the creation on their impulse, and with the participation of the French Tennis Federation (Fédération Française de Tennis – FFT) of a special year-end event for French tennis players, intended to reinforce competition in
18-536: A match tie-break, and including the seven players having won the most ATP points in the four French ATP events of Marseille, Metz, Lyon and Paris, and an additional wild card. The event, first planned to be played in November, right after the BNP Paribas Masters, was moved to late December, and the surface of choice was changed from a fast indoor hard court to a slower Plexicushion court, to transform
27-520: The ATP World Series ) was a series of professional tennis tournaments held internationally as part of the ATP Tour from 2000 to 2008. The series was renamed ATP Tour 250 in 2009. International Series offered players cash prizes (tournaments have purses from $ 416,000 to $ 1,000,000) and the ability to earn ATP ranking points. They generally offered less prize money and fewer points than
36-1547: The World No. 7, winner of Casablanca , Indianapolis and Bucharest during the season, to become the first champion of the Masters France. 2008 Open 13 The 2008 Open 13 was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts . It was the 16th edition of the Open 13 , and was part of the International Series of the 2008 ATP Tour . It took place at the Palais des Sports in Marseille , France, from 11 February through 17 February 2008. The field featured World No. 3 and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic , ATP No. 7 and 2007 Paris Masters semifinalist Richard Gasquet , and ATP No. 8 and Australian Open quarterfinalist Mikhail Youzhny . Among other top players were Doha titlist Andy Murray , Auckland runner-up Juan Carlos Ferrero , Marcos Baghdatis , Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Paul-Henri Mathieu . [REDACTED] Andy Murray defeated [REDACTED] Mario Ančić , 6–3, 6–4 [REDACTED] Martin Damm / [REDACTED] Pavel Vízner defeated [REDACTED] Yves Allegro / [REDACTED] Jeff Coetzee , 7–6 , 7–5 ATP International Series The ATP International Series (known from 1990 to 1999 as
45-555: The early advantage, as the Tennis Masters Cup semifinalist broke Llodra twice to lead 5–1, before the Adelaide and Rotterdam titlist lined up 6 straight games to win the set 7–5. Both players broke each other repeatedly in the second set, until the tie-break, where Simon saved two match points for Llodra, and snatched the set 7–6(7). Already diminished by an arm strain, Llodra decided to retire, allowing
54-536: The end of December for the 2009 Australian Open , and was replaced by Michaël Llodra . Gasquet also withdrew on December 9, due to a lack of preparation after being sidelined for several weeks due to injury, and was replaced by Arnaud Clément . Mahut eventually pulled out on December 16, two days before the event, and was replaced by Lyon quarterfinalist and Rennes Challenger winner Josselin Ouanna . Gicquel, Ouanna, Clément and Mannarino were eventually eliminated in
63-483: The event into a warm-up tournament for the following year's Australian Open . The first Masters France was scheduled to be played from December 18 through December 21, with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga , Paul-Henri Mathieu , Gilles Simon , Julien Benneteau , Adrian Mannarino , Nicolas Mahut , Marc Gicquel and Richard Gasquet as the wild card. Tsonga decided to withdraw on December 2, explaining he wanted to delay his return to competition, and set up his own preparation at
72-554: The four existing French ATP events on the tour, recreate an event similar to the defunct French National Singles Championships, and bring back a large tennis event in Toulouse after the discontinuation of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Toulouse in 2000. The Masters France was conceived as a round robin tournament with prize money of 280,000 € , with two groups of four players, to determine the finalists, matches played in two sets and
81-448: The round robin stage of the event, with Julien Benneteau and Paul-Henri Mathieu qualifying for the third place match, and Gilles Simon and Michaël Llodra for the final. The third place match was dominated by Mathieu until 7–5, 4–4, when Benneteau managed to break back, and kept his momentum to win the match tie-break, and clinch the tournament's third place, on the score of 5–7, 6–4, 10–4. The final saw Simon took
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