Jannik Sinner captured his first Rolex Paris Masters title on Sunday, edging fast-rising Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-6 (4) and regaining his No. 1 position in the ATP rankings.
The Italian slipped to No. 2 after falling to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open, but will head into the Nitto ATP Finals Nov. 9-16 at the top of the sport.
Sinner was dominant on his first serve, winning 40 of 44 points (90.9%), while never facing a break point.
He opened the proceedings by breaking the ninth-seeded Canadian and only lost three points on his serve in a 45-minute first set.
Auger-Aliassime, who will rise to No. 8 in the eight-man Race to Turin for the ATP Finals, fought off five break points to reach a second-set tiebreaker. But he faltered just once in the tiebreaker, losing serve on the fifth point, and settled for the runner-up position.
“It was a very difficult match, he was serving incredibly well, especially from the first break on,” Sinner said. “I didn’t have many chances … You have to use the small chances you have, and in the breaker it was just a small mini break, so I’m very happy with how I played there.”
Sinner won his fifth ATP 1000 title, extended his indoor winning streak to 26 matches and became the first player to win a 1000-level event without losing a set since Alcaraz’s triumph in Indian Wells two years ago.
Auger-Aliassime now holds a 160-point lead over Italian Lorenzo Musetti for the eight spot and both players are entered in the ATP 250 tournament in Metz this week.
Sinner is the defending champion in the ATP Finals, but Alcaraz could re-take the No. 1 spot when the dust settles on the 2025 season.
“It’s huge, honestly. It was such an intense final, and we both knew what was on the line,” Sinner said. “I’m extremely happy, the past couple of months have been amazing. We try to work on things and seeing this result makes me incredibly happy. Another title this year … It’s been an amazing year regardless of what comes in Turin.”
In addition to Sinner and Alcaraz, Serbian Novak Djokovic, German Alexander Zverev, Australian Alex de Minaur and Americans Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton have qualified for the ATP Finals.
Moselle Open
Four French players kicked off first-round action in a pair of matches in Metz, France.
Arthur Cazaux defeated veteran Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-6 (4), while Hugo Gaston upset Terence Atmane 6-4, 6-1. Cazaux broke the 37-year-old Mannarino in the sixth game of the first set and won the final three points in the second-set tiebreaker to prevail in one hour, 47 minutes.
Gaston cruised in 51 minutes, winning 26 of 29 first-serve points (89.7%) and never facing a break point. Atmane had a great summer, reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati with wins over Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune.
Hellenic Open
Sixth-seeded Nuno Borges of Portugal defeated Greek wild card Stefanos Sakellaridis, 7-6 (4), 6-3 while Sebastian Korda upset seventh-seeded Australian Alexei Popyrin in three sets in Athens.
Sakellaridis pumped out nine aces in the first set, but made no progress on Borges’ serve and dropped one service point in the tiebreaker. Borges broke in the sixth game of the second set and won on his second match point. Meanwhile, Korda stormed back for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory by breaking Popyrin’s serve just twice while winning 14 of his 15 service games.
Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo broke serve in the final game of the match to outlast Australia’s Adam Walton 7-6 (7), 6-7 (6), 7-5 in a match that exceeded three hours.
–Field Level Media
