Tournament Feature
Surprises by the Seine!: Rune, Sock, Berdych among fairytale Paris champions
Nalbandian, Khachanov also among string of unexpected titlists at ATP Masters 1000
October 28, 2024
Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
Novak Djokovic congratulates Holger Rune on his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Paris.
By ATP Staff
At the 2005 Rolex Paris Masters, unseeded Tomas Berdych became the lowest-ranked champion in tournament history by beating Ivan Ljubicic in a five-set final. The Czech, No. 50 in the PIF ATP Rankings at the time, started a 21st-century trend of surprise champions at the ATP Masters 1000 in the French capital, with trophy runs for unseeded stars like David Nalbandian, Karen Khachanov and Holger Rune — plus the 16th-seeded Jack Sock — following Berdych’s triumph.
Since 2005, only one man has won multiple titles at the prestigious Paris event: Novak Djokovic, who claimed the first of his seven in 2009. Roger Federer (2011) and Andy Murray (2016) have also reigned at a tournament that has crowned superstars and rising stars as champions in equal measure. With the Serbian out of this year’s event and Federer and Murray now retired, the stage could be ripe for another dark horse to finish first.
Ahead of the latest edition of the Paris tournament, ATPTour.com looks back at the unexpected titlists who could inspire a new surprise champion in 2024.
Tomas Bedych, 2005
A 20-year-old Berdych won his one and only ATP Masters 1000 title with a five-set victory against Ljubicic in the 2005 final on indoor carpet. The Czech beat five seeded players en route to the title, including Guillermo Coria, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Gaston Gaudio and countryman Radek Stepanek, before his 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4 triumph against Ljubicic.
Berdych had previously beaten Federer at the 2004 Olympics, but even he was shocked by his success in Paris, where he remains the lowest-ranked champ in tournament history.
“If someone told me I was going to win the tournament, I would have called him crazy,” Berdych said at the time.
The Paris title was the second of Berdych’s 13 tour-level titles. He reached 19 additional finals, including three at the ATP Masters 1000 level and one at Wimbledon in 2020. The former World No. 4 retired in 2019 and has since gone on to coach Jiri Lehecka, though the pair split in September.
Tomas Berdych and Ivan Ljubicic are joined by 2004 Paris champ Marat Safin during the 2005 trophy ceremony. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.
David Nalbandian, 2007
As the Rolex Paris Masters returned to indoor hard courts in 2007, Nalbandian ushered in the new era with a shock title run that saw him knock out both Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Argentine took out top seed Federer 6-4, 7-6(3) in the third round and later stunned Nadal 6-4, 6-0 in the final, also beating Carlos Moya, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet along the way.
The title was part of a late-season surge for Nalbandian, who won the ATP Masters Cup (now the Nitto ATP Finals) in 2005 but dropped outside of the Top 20 during the 2007 campaign. He won 12 of his last 13 matches that year to end on a high with ATP Masters 1000 trophies in Madrid and Paris. In Madrid, he beat Nadal, Djokovic and Federer in succession to win the title.
Jack Sock, 2017
Sock’s surprise Paris title in 2017 was doubly significant: In addition to the title, the result earned him a place at that year’s Nitto ATP Finals, where he reached the semi-finals.
The American battled back from a set down in three of his five Paris victories, winning two tie-breaks to edge Kyle Edmund in his opening match and later battling back against Fernando Verdasco and Filip Krajinovic. A 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 victory against Serbian qualifier Krajinovic earned Sock his lone ATP Masters 1000 title.
“Crazy things can happen,” Sock, then 25, said of his run. “That’s sports, and that’s why we play.”
Sock became the first American to claim a Masters 1000 title since Andy Roddick won Miami in 2010; it was not until Taylor Fritz‘s 2022 Indian Wells title that another player from the United States would break through at that level. Sock’s triumph also affected Big Four lore, as it meant that — for the first time since 2004 — more than three Masters 1000 titles were won by players outside that elite group.
Jack Sock celebrates at the 2017 Rolex Paris Masters. Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images.
Karen Khachanov, 2018
After saving two match points and surviving a 10/8 third-set tie-break against John Isner in the third round, Khachanov made quick work of fourth seed Alexander Zverev and sixth seed Dominic Thiem to reach his first — and to date, only — ATP Masters 1000 final.
The difficulty level would only increase at the last hurdle, with Novak Djokovic across the net chasing his fifth Paris title. Against a fourth consecutive Top 10 opponent, a 22-year-old Khachanov produced a big-hitting display to claim a 7-5, 6-4 victory.
“It means the world to me,” said Khachanov, who would rise to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 8 the following year. “I couldn’t be happier to finish the season like this.”
The result has stood up as the biggest of his career, alongside his 2021 Olympic semi-final victory that earned him a silver medal. Now 28, Khachanov has also reached the semi-finals at the US Open (2022) and Australian Open (2023).
Holger Rune, 2022
A fearless 19-year-old Rune saved three match points on the way to his first ATP Masters 1000 crown in Paris, but that was not the most eye-catching statistic from his breakthrough week. After saving those match points in his opening win against Stan Wawrinka, Rune rattled off five consecutive Top 10 wins to complete his shock run. The Dane beat Hubert Hurkacz, Andrey Rublev, Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime without dropping a set before meeting defending champ Djokovic in the final.
From a set down, Rune showed nerves of steel to attack the Serbian in the clutch moments of a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. In the match’s final game, he saved six break points as he dug deep to claim the biggest title of his career in dramatic fashion.
“It was the most stressful game of my life,” he said of the marathon game. “My heart was almost in my brain. I was already starting to think about the tie-break. I’m very proud I could finish it.”
On the heels of those five Top 10 wins, Rune earned himself a place in that elite group as he left Paris at No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings. The Dane finished the 2022 season by reaching four straight finals and claiming three titles. Buoyed by that success, he climbed to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 4 in 2023.
