Fabrice Santoro played his final match of his career in Paris. The French veteran also known as the Magician lost to James Blake 6-4 6-3. We will miss the feisty Frenchman and his bag of tricks.

BNP Masters
Singles First Round
James Blake (USA) def. Fabrice Santoro (FRA) 6-4 6-3
Benjamin Becker (GER) def. WC Michael Llodra 3-6 6-2 6-3

Monday’s Order of Play

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(Image: BNP Paribas Masters)

City: Metz, France
Surface: Indoor Hard
Championship Points: 250
2008 Singles Champion: Dmitry Tursunov
2008 Doubles Champions: Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra

Defending champion, Dmitry Tursunov will not defend his title this year, as he is out because of ankle surgery. Gael Monfils tops the seeds and is the hometown and crowd favorite. Mostly French and German players join him this week.

Philip Kohlschreiber, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Philipp Petzschner, Fabrice Santoro, Benjamin Becker, Andreas Beck and Ivan Ljubicic round out the other seeds. Richard Gasquet will also be on hand to try to return to form. Fabrice Santoro puts in his last appearance at the tournament since he will retire at the end of the year. On the doubles side, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra are back together and will defend their title for the second-straight time.

As stated before, it is harder to tell the clear favorites, as injuries and burnout become the tale of the season. This should be an exciting tournament, as there are plenty of quality players duking it out this week.

Tournament Draw
Singles / Doubles

Monday’s Order of Play

(Image: Open de Moselle)

Jeremy Chardy has the Ps number. He defeated the pair with Gilles Simon in the first round last week in Cincinnati. This week, he and Fabrice Santoro defeated Travis Parrott and Filip Polasek 6-4 3-6 10-7 in their New Haven debut. It’s déjà vu all over again. Let's hope the Ps do not have to lock horns with Chardy & Company in the early rounds next week.

Chardy and Santoro now get to wait for winner of tomorrow’s Butorac/Coetzee-Soares/Ullyett match.

(Images: Denise/tennisfiend)

Juan Carlos Ferrero gives the retiring Fabrice Santoro a hug after their match. It was Santoro's last match at Wimbledon, as Ferrero ended the Frenchman's last Queen's Club run 6-7(1) 6-3 6-4 6-3.

(Image: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images)

Juan Carlos Ferrero was able to dismiss Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 7-6(3) 6-3. The former World No. 1 played well and looked like he was in good form. The Spanish veteran will meet Fabrice Santoro in the second round. Ferrero is 4-2 over Santoro, with the Frenchman winning their last meeting in this year's Australian Open.

(Image: PA Photo)

Nicolas Kiefer and Marat Safin were both upset at Wimbledon today. Frenchman Fabrice Santoro sent Kiefer home 6-4 6-2 6-2 in a battle of the veterans. Santoro is playing in his last Wimbledon tournament, as he is retiring this year. American Jesse Levine took out Safin 6-2 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4 in the Russian's final Wimbledon appearance.

Also, Dmitry Tursunov retired against German Mischa Zverev 6-4 6-2 3-0. He injured his ankle in last Saturday's Eastbourne final. He promised to play in Wimbledon but was not able to make it through his first-round match.

(Images: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images, AP)

Nicolas Kiefer fought off the always tricky Fabrice Santoro. Kiefer eventually prevailed over the Frenchman 5-7 7-6(5) 6-2 after 152 minutes of play. He now has the monumental task of playing Roger Federer in the next round. Federer leads their head-to-head 11-3. Kiefer’s last victory over Federer was in 2002.

Singles Second Round
2 Roger Federer (SUI) def. Q Kevin Kim (USA) 6-3 6-2
3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) def. Q Frank Dancevic (CAN) 6-3 6-2
5 Andy Roddick (USA) def. Diego Junqueira (ARG) 6-1 6-1
7 Gilles Simon (FRA) def. WC Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 6-1 6-2
9 Gael Monfils (FRA) def. Q Michael Russell (USA) 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3
10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) def. Agustin Calleri (ARG) 6-1 6-1
13 James Blake (USA) def. Julien Benneteau (FRA) 6-4 6-4
15 Tommy Robredo (ESP) def. Jan Hernych (CZE) 6-4 6-4
Q Taylor Dent (USA) def. 19 Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 2-6 6-2 7-6(7)
21 Tomas Berdych (CZE) def. Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 6-3 3-6 6-4
22 Marat Safin (RUS) def. Oscar Hernandez (ESP) 6-4 4-6 6-1
Q Robert Kendrick (USA) def. 23 Robin Soderling (SWE) 6-4 6-2
25 Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) def. Q Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3
28 Nicolas Kiefer (GER) def. Fabrice Santoro (FRA) 5-7 7-6(5) 6-2
29 Rainer Schuettler (GER) def. Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 4-6 6-2 6-3
31 Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) def. Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-3 2-6 6-2

(image: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)