There isn’t much Jannik Sinner has yet to achieve as a young tennis phenom, but on Thursday he sewed up a new first by advancing to the quarterfinals of the Rolex Paris Masters for the first time.
The No. 2 seed played for the second straight day following a first-round bye and defeated Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1.
For context, Sinner has reached the quarterfinals at least once at every other ATP Masters 1000 tournament, including wins in Miami, Canada, Cincinnati and Shanghai. He is now the first Italian player to reach the quarters at all nine current 1000-level events.
In the first set against Cerundolo, Sinner went up by a break twice but lost the ensuing game each time. His opponent drew even at 4-4 and held serve until Sinner pulled out the final three points of the 12th game to escaped a 30-15 deficit.
“I was up twice with the break in the first set and I could not convert,” Sinner said. “I put myself in not an easy situation, but I am happy with how I ended the match and I felt much better. Hopefully, it will give me the confidence to start off in a good way tomorrow. Hopefully, I can recover physically, which is my main priority.”
Sinner won the Erste Bank Open last week in Vienna, an ATP 500 tournament, but he’s yet to win one of the 1000-level titles this year.
Because of Carlos Alcaraz’s surprise loss in his opening match, Sinner can reclaim the No. 1 world ranking from the Spaniard if he wins this tournament.
Sinner set up a quarterfinal showdown with No. 5 seed Ben Shelton, who qualified for his first Nitto ATP Finals when he finished off No. 12 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-6 (6), 6-3.
Shelton’s fellow American, Taylor Fritz, was not as fortunate Thursday. No. 13 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan saved all four break points he faced and topped the fourth-seeded Fritz 7-6 (5), 6-2.
No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany breezed past No. 15 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, 6-2, 6-4. No. 6 Alex de Minaur of Australia needed just 68 minutes to beat Russian 10th seed Karen Khachanov 6-2, 6-2.
No. 9 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada kept a strong season going when he rallied past Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Auger-Aliassime, who reached the U.S. Open semifinals in September, is in the running for the last of eight berths in the Nitto ATP Finals.
“Three sets all week. It’s been a struggle all week,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Just fighting back, I feel like every day. That’s why I came in today knowing it might be tough again. Just stay calm, stay patient, and try to find solutions. I tried to dig deep. I know I have solutions within myself, but it’s just about making the right choices and executing right.”
No. 11 seed Daniil Medvedev beat Italian Lorenzo Sonego 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4. Meanwhile, the only unseeded player to reach the quarterfinals was wild card Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, who knocked out Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie 7-6 (4), 6-4.
–Field Level Media
