PARIS, Oct 31: Jannik Sinner beat Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 in the third round of the Paris Masters on Thursday to extend his indoor winning streak to 23 matches and maintain his chances of reclaiming the No. 1 ranking.
The four-time Grand Slam champion needs to win the tournament to take the top spot from Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner’s quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be Ben Shelton.
The fifth-seeded American beat 12th-seeded Andrey Rublev 7-6 (6), 6-3 to secure his place in the eight-man, season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
Sinner is chasing a fifth title of the year and 23rd overall. He won an ATP 500 tournament in Vienna last Sunday despite having cramps.
“Hopefully, I can recover physically, which is my main priority” Sinner said ahead of his eighth match against Shelton. “Today was a great match and a great performance from my side.”
He leads Shelton 6-1 overall.
Meanwhile, defending champion Alexander Zverev downed 15th-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2, 6-4.
The third-seeded German won on his first match point with an ace and next takes on 11th-seeded Daniil Medvedev, the 2020 champion.
They meet for the 22nd time in an often intense rivalry, which Medvedev leads 14-7 having won their past five encounters.
Vacherot keeps going
There seems to be no stopping the 40th-ranked Valentin Vacherot, who reached another Masters quarterfinal by beating Cameron Norrie 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Already this month, Vacherot made a stunning run from the qualifiers to win the Shanghai Masters for his first career title, after entering it ranked 240th.
He downed 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and beat his own cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final.
“I never expected it,” Vacherot said. “Good thing that I keep going here, maybe enjoying the matches even more than in Shanghai.”
Vacherot, who is from Monaco, beat Rinderknech again in the second round here in Paris, setting up a match against Norrie after the British player eliminated Alcaraz.
Vacherot had five aces and saved all five break points against Norrie, who dropped serve once.
Vacherot next faces ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, who rallied past Daniel Altmaier 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Victory maintained Auger-Aliassime’s chances of reaching the eight-man, season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
Other matches
Fourth-seeded American Taylor Fritz lost 7-6 (5), 6-2 to No. 13 seed Alexander Bublik; No. 6 Alex De Minaur won 6-2, 6-2 against 2018 champion Karen Khachanov; and Medvedev reached his 25th Masters quarterfinal with a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Lorenzo Sonego.
Race to Turin
De Minaur qualified for the ATP Finals for the second consecutive season and Shelton for the first time, leaving one spot left.
Auger-Aliassime will leapfrog Lorenzo Musetti only if he reaches the final in Paris. (AP)
