No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner celebrated his 400th tour-level match by ousting No. 5 seed Ben Shelton 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Rolex Paris Masters on Friday.
Sinner’s semifinal opponent will be No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, who saved two match points to stun No. 11 Daniil Medvedev of Russia 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
The Italian moved one step closer to regaining the No. 1 world ranking from Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. Due to Alcaraz’s first-round upset this week, Sinner can move past him by winning the ATP Masters 1000 title, which would be his first of 2025.
Sinner’s win was no easy feat, as Shelton has enjoyed a career year and just this week qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.
Sinner won 80% of both his first-service points (24 of 30) and his second-serve points (8 of 10) to keep control of the match. He also capitalized on Shelton’s second serves, winning 12 of 17 points on his second return (70.6%).
“It was a very tough match. At times against Ben you don’t have a lot of control because of his incredible serving, but today I felt like I was returning very well,” Sinner said. “Also from the back of the court, I played very solid and also very aggressive, so I’m very happy about today’s match.”
In the final match of the night, Zverev found himself down 5-4 in the third set and saved two match points — once at 30-40, then again when Medvedev had advantage.
The German tied the set and soon forced a tiebreaker, where Medvedev rallied from two points down to tie it 5-5 before Zverev finally ended the 2 1/2-hour match.
“I felt like in the beginning I was playing well, but I was playing very stupid tactically,” Zverev said. “I felt my shots, I felt like I could turn the match around because I was feeling really well with my shots, but again, I was playing very, very dumb. I changed a few things in my tactics and broke back.”
Zverev’s match against Sinner will be a rematch of Sunday in Vienna, when Sinner prevailed in the final of the Erste Bank Open.
“Against Jannik, we had a fantastic match last Sunday,” Zverev said. “I’m happy to be on court with him again. Hopefully we share another great match.”
The other semifinal will pit red-hot ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada against No. 13 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. Auger-Aliassime breezed past Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot 6-2, 6-2, while Bublik toppled Australian sixth seed Alex de Minaur 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5.
Auger-Aliassime, not far removed from his run to the semis at the U.S. Open, is chasing down Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti for the last available bid into the Nitto ATP Finals, and his quarterfinal victory brought him within 90 points of the eighth-place Musetti in the Live Race to Turin standings.
“I am trying to win every match I play,” Auger-Aliassime said Friday. “Whether it is the end of the year or start of the year, everything counts and adds up in this sport.
“I think the work I put in, the routines. I try to be consistent with my work and try to bring consistency with everything I do and it is very gratifying when you get the consistency with your results.”
Auger-Aliassime won a whopping 84.6% of his total service points (33 of 39), dropping just three on his first serve, and saved both break points he faced against Vacherot.
Bublik trailed de Minaur 5-4 in the third set before ripping off the last three games. He out-aced the Australian 16-12 while committing five fewer double faults (4 to 9).
–Field Level Media
