# 1981 Paris Open – Singles

Brian Gottfried was the defending champion but lost in the quarterfinals to Stan Smith.
Mark Vines won in the final 6–2, 6–4, 6–3 against Pascal Portes.

## Seeds

A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated.
* Yannick Noah (semifinals)
* Brian Gottfried (quarterfinals)
* Johan Kriek (second round)
* Harold Solomon (first round)
* Adriano Panatta (first round)
* Stan Smith (semifinals)
* Pascal Portes (final)
* Ilie Năstase (quarterfinals)

## Draw
### Key

* Q = Qualifier
* WC = Wild card
* LL = Lucky loser
* Alt = Alternate
* SE = Special exempt
* PR = Protected ranking
* ITF = ITF entry
* JE = Junior exempt
* w/o = Walkover
* r = Retired
* d = Defaulted
* SR = Special ranking
* NB: The Final was the best of 5 sets while all other rounds were the best of 3 sets.

### Final

| Final | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| | Mark Vines | 6 | 6 | 6 | | |
| 7 | Pascal Portes | 2 | 4 | 3 | | |

### Section 1

| First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| 1 | Y Noah | 6 | 5 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | M Cox | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | Y Noah | 6 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| | C Mayotte | 1 | 5 | | | E Deblicker | 7 | 4 | 2 | | | | | | | | | |
| | E Deblicker | 6 | 7 | | | | | | | 1 | Y Noah | 2 | 7 | 7 | | | | |
| | J-L Haillet | 1 | 6 | 4 | | | | | | 8 | I Năstase | 6 | 6 | 5 | | | | |
| | C Zipf | 6 | 4 | 6 | | C Zipf | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | M Ostoja | 5 | 4 | | 8 | I Năstase | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | I Năstase | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | Y Noah | 4 | 6 |
| 4 | H Solomon | 1 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | M Vines | 6 | 7 |
| | M Vines | 6 | 6 | | | M Vines | 6 | 3 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| | J-F Caujolle | 1 | 3 | | | P Bertolucci | 4 | 6 | 2 | | | | | | | | | |
| | P Bertolucci | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | M Vines | 4 | 6 | 6 | | | | |
| | C Freyss | 6 | 4 | | | | | | | | R Lewis | 6 | 3 | 2 | | | | |
| | S Meister | 7 | 6 | | | S Meister | 6 | 6 | 3 | | | | | | | | | |
| | R Lewis | 6 | 6 | | | R Lewis | 4 | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | A Panatta | 3 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Section 2

| First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| 7 | P Portes | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | J Smith | 3 | 4 | 7 | P Portes | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | P Proisy | 1 | 4 | | L Courteau | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | L Courteau | 6 | 6 | | | | | | 7 | P Portes | 6 | 6 | | | | | | |
| | J Vanlangendonck | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | J Potier | 1 | 0 | | | | | | |
| | J Potier | 6 | 6 | | J Potier | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | H Ismail | 6 | 2 | 3 | J Kriek | 6 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | J Kriek | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | 7 | P Portes | 3 | 7 | 6 |
| 6 | S Smith | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | 6 | S Smith | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| | H Leconte | 3 | 4 | 6 | S Smith | 7 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | P Torre | 3 | 2 | | J Feaver | 6 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | J Feaver | 6 | 6 | | | | | | 6 | S Smith | 7 | 2 | 15 | | | | | |
| | D Siegler | 6 | 6 | | | | | | 2 | B Gottfried | 6 | 6 | 13 | | | | | |
| | B Fritz | 3 | 1 | | D Siegler | 2 | 6 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | E Fromm | 6 | 3 | 2 | B Gottfried | 6 | 4 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2 | B Gottfried | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |