Jódar does not fail in Paris against his favorite victim and continues in the fight for the ATP Finals

Rafa Jodar He is still fully involved in the fight to enter the ATP Finals 2026. The Madrid native added some valuable points this Monday after beating one of his favorite victims, Alejandro Tabilo 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the Paris Masters 1000.

It is the fourth consecutive victory for the Spanish player against the Chileanwho won the first duel between the two, in March in Indian Wells, and since then has been clearly surpassed by the young sensation of the circuit in the tournaments in Washington, Cincinnati and, last week, Basel.

This time things didn’t start well for Jódar, who came out a bit cold and gave up his serve in the third game. However, as is usual for him, he did not take long to react and recovered the break in the next game, and in a blank.

That marked a turning point in the match, since from that moment on the Madrid native He raised his level of play and began to command with authority on the court, with aggressive tennis which barely gave options to an overwhelmed Tabilo who increased his error count as Jódar tightened the screws.

Another blank break allowed the Spaniard to get back on track in a first set that ended up closing 6-2 in less than average after a third consecutive breakage.

The second set started much more even, and even Jódar had moments of trouble in the third game, in which he had to save two break points. It was nothing more than a mirage, since the Madrid native pressed the accelerator again to put the ground in between (3-1).

Tabilo was not willing to give up so easily and managed to balance the score (3-3), but was not able to maintain the level and He saw how the Spaniard ended up closing the match with a final 6-3.

First important step for Jódar, who currently occupies the last of the places that give access to the masters tournament and needs to equal or surpass the result achieved by the Australian Alex de Minaurwhich debuts this Wednesday against the winner of the duel that will face the Russian Andrey Rublev and the Argentine Tomás Martín Etcheverry.

Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul are the three players with the best chance of fighting for the top spot that the player from Madrid holds, increasingly closer to making history and qualifying for the ATP Finals in the year of his debut.

To do this you must pass all possible rounds. For now, in the second round They will face the winner of the match between the Norwegian Casper Ruud and the Argentine Juan Manuel Cerúndolo.