Friday's Paris Masters Update and News.

The semifinals of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, France are set.  But the early round upsets were the story in the early part of the week.  Roger Federer lost to journeman French player Julien Benneteau in the 2nd round, and Andy Murray lost to up and down Czech Radek Stepanek in the 3rd round.  The 2nd round also saw the end of the road for Marat Safin.  It was his final match.

Getting on to the semifinals.  After the defeats of Federer and Murray that side of the bracket was up for grabs.  Gael "Monchichi" Monfils and Radek Stepanek claimed the two surprising spots, while Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal expectedly moved through to the semifinals as well.

The matchups look like this:

Gael Monfils  vs.  Radek Stepanek    PICK:  Monfils

Novak Djokovic  vs.  Rafael Nadal   PICK:  Nadal

I like the way Djokovic has been playing, but he sure has been playing a lot of tennis of late.  Good tennis.  I think he'll tire out a little bit and Nadal will take advantage...The Monfils-Stepanek is harder to predict.  Both players are inconsistent.  Monfils has more talent, but is more of a headcase and can "mail in" a match at any time.  Oh well, hes at home in France so I'll say he'll win.  Either way the winner of Nadal-Djokovic is taking this tournament.

Next weeks ATP World Tour Finals field is set.  These 8 players will play for the year end championship in London, England:

1. Roger Federer

2. Rafael Nadal

3. Novak Djokovic

4. Andy Murray

5. Andy Roddick

6. Juan Martin Del Potro

7. Nikolay Davydenko

8. Fernando Verdasco

9th ranked Vera Zvonareva who is often injured had arthroscopic ankle surgery to remove some scar tissue.  The time table for her to be back on the court playing is about 4-5 weeks.  This won't jeopardize her start to next season, but it could be a factor in her offseason conditioning.  The Australian Open is played daily in scorching heat and normally it comes down to a survival of the fittest in the later rounds....I'll call it right now.  Look for Zvonareva to be an early round casualty come next January.  The fitness needed to contend just won't be there.