The West
Marcuss Deane: The talented teenager is the youngest player in the draw, and luckily for him he's drawn Thailand's Atthaphol Sae-ul first up. Sae-ul is a good player, but this really isn't his surface and he's done everything he can to avoid playing on clay this year. From there, though, it is hard to see him advancing much further.
Heath Davis: Czech leftie Vaclav Zeman is his first round opponent and that is a pretty good test for Davis. The Westerner is still a bit iffy on the clay despite some good results, while Zeman can cause troubles on his day. Deane or Sae-ul next before his big test comes in the third against Radivoj Daneu. Davis beat him in Rome, and will fancy his chances of advancing. A pretty good section all things considering.
David Briggs: The qualifier gets a big chance to pick up a win as he faces wildcard Mikel Fosdike first. Jefferson Drake, however...
Jojo Mustard: It wasn't a good week for the fourteenth seed in Dusseldorf, and he has probably one of the most dangerous non-seeds first up against
Maarten Berg. Berg made the semis in Nice (before being pantsed by Drake), and is a very game opponent and a real threat to Mustard. After that it doesn't get much easier with
Viktor Vuriak coming off some solid red clay results, while a possible fourth round showdown with Drake awaits. Tough start.
The East
Jefferson Drake: Through war and famine, Drake is probably the East's only real hope here in Paris. He begins with a scrap against
Heinz Hainisch which he should win, and then has a pretty simple second round matchup. His real test could come against
Kim Vollan who is a Slam specialist, before a potential showdown with
Jojo Mustard in the fourth round. He's hit form at the right time in Nice, and if he can beat
Brett Read tomorrow it could complete a perfect preparation.
Spas Delev: Ouch. The clay season hasn't been kind to Delev, and against highly touted Spanish youngster
Marc Carretero he could be in for a brutal first round matchup. If he wins that,
Henry Charles is probably next and that is winnable.
Phoenix Wleft: Dwayne Murdoch first. Heh.
Jarkko Maxum: Exactly what he didn't want - the Blanco section. In reality he's got a great chance to make it to the third round with
Pascal Schmidt and
Pierre L'Estrange as early threats, but Blanco after that makes it tough. What's worse is that he was just one withdrawal away from a seeding which would have given him a third round clash with
Radek Špidlá of all people.