Novak Djokovic has been the Prince Of Paris in recent years, winning 15 of his past 16 matches and taking the title in his past two appearances in 2019 and 2021. But on Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters the Serb runs into the only player he’s fallen to during that streak: Karen Khachanov.

The 38-time ATP Masters 1000 champion holds a 7-1 Head2Head advantage over his rival, but a straight-sets defeat in the 2018 final in Bercy, where Khachanov claimed his lone Masters 1000 trophy, surely still gives Djokovic some indigestion.

The record holder of 373 weeks as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is aiming for his fourth victory over Khachanov this season (Dubai, Belgrade, Astana). He is also chasing his fifth title of the year after triumphs at Rome, Wimbledon, Tel Aviv and Astana, the latter two coming in consecutive weeks. The indoor hard-court event in France presents a new challenge, even for the six-time champion.

“The conditions are different,” Djokovic said following his opening match against Maxime Cressy. “From last year, it’s quicker. The balls are fast and they go through the court. It makes it more challenging to break serve.”

Khachanov, World No. 19 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, will rely on his heavy first delivery and firepower from the baseline to try his hand at another upset in the French capital in the fourth match on Court Central.

Earlier on Thursday, World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz will look to back up his strong start in Paris as he faces 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov for the first time.

“First round in every tournament is never easy,” Alcaraz said following his opening match. “You have to be really focused, you have to try to get good rhythm, good feeling in the first round. I’m really happy with the performance, the level that I played, and I’m looking forward to getting better in the next round.”

The 19-year-old Spaniard is aiming for his third ATP Masters 1000 crown (Miami & Madrid 2022), which would add to his season-leading five Tour-level titles. He is also looking to tighten his grip on the converted year-end No. 1 Pepperstone ATP Ranking, which will be presented at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

Holger Rune, 19, has reached at least the final in each of his past three tournaments, including in Stockholm, where he collected the title. After the Dane spoiled Hubert Hurkacz’s hopes of returning to the Nitto ATP Finals, the 19-year-old looks to earn back-to-back wins against Top-10 players when he meets Andrey Rublev, whose qualification for Turin was confirmed Wednesday.

Casper Ruud, who still has an outside shot to finish the year No. 1, kicks off Thursday’s card with a first-time meeting against talented Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who next week will spearhead the eight-man field at the 21-and-under Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

Norway’s World No. 4, a two-time Grand Slam finalist this year, is looking to regain form ahead of his second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, where last year he made the semi-finals. Although just two wins shy of his 50th match win on the year, the 23-year-old came into Paris on a three-match losing streak.

.@CasperRuud98 is known for his forehand, and tonight vs Gasquet it was in full flow

FH Shot Quality context 👇
Tour avg. 7.2
Ruud 52-week avg. 8.5 (one of the best on tour)
Ruud vs Gasquet 9.3 🔥#TennisInsights | @RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/GRxJQtMVxO

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) November 1, 2022

French World No. 64 Corentin Moutet will return to Court Central less than 16 hours after his early-morning win over Cameron Norrie to battle fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the quarter-finals. Moutet, 23, closed out a third-set tie-break win over Norrie at 3.04 a.m. Thursday morning.

Tsitsipas, who boasts a 58-21 record on the season, is chasing his second Masters 1000 title of the year (Monte Carlo). He also has an outside shot of pushing for year-end No. 1 honours if Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t have a deep run in Paris and at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Rafael Nadal struck a positive tone following his early exit at the Rolex Paris Masters, looking forward to his 11th appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, which begins 13 November. The Spaniard has always kept perspective after defeats, and that held true on Wednesday after a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 loss to Tommy Paul in what was Nadal’s first match as a father.

“I’m excited about playing [in Turin], even if it hasn’t been the perfect couple of months for me, of course,” said Nadal, who will be seeking his first title at the ATP Tour’s season finale. “But, yeah, nothing to lose. After a good year, going there, just trying my best.”

While Nadal has spent time on the practice court since the US Open and competed in doubles alongside Roger Federer at the Laver Cup, he has lacked the usual routine of life on the ATP Tour.

“At the end, I need days on the Tour,” he said in a press conference. “It’s true that for the last five months I didn’t spend enough days on the Tour. I don’t even say competing on a tennis court; I say on the Tour, practising with the guys. That’s what I need. I am going to try — [if] nothing happens, if I am feeling OK — to be there [in Turn] a little bit earlier than usual and have some practices. 

“Just give myself a chance to enjoy another [Nitto ATP] Finals. You never know when is going to be the last, especially at my age. So I’m going to give my best to enjoy this one, and then [the] next years of course I’m going to fight to be back there.”

After a red-hot start to the 2022 season in which he won four titles, including at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, Nadal has played just six matches since Wimbledon and now holds a 38-6 record on the year.

While he said it was “difficult to imagine” himself winning his first year-end trophy this season in his current shape, Nadal took some positives out of his matchup with Paul in Paris.

“A lot of things going on the last couple of months, without a doubt,” he reflected. “But we are always ready to find excuses, but at the end, it’s always the same. You play well, you win; you don’t, you lose. And today for moments, putting everything in a pack, I was playing quite well.”

While he was full of praise for the American, he also rued letting slip his lead in the second set.

“I had my match in that second set with [a] set and break,” he said. “I played a terrible game there. Yeah, I didn’t deserve the victory playing that bad in that key moment, no. Until that moment it was OK, a good match for me, knowing that is my first match since a while.”

Tommy Paul earned the biggest win of his career by defeating new dad Rafael Nadal on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters. With his 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 victory, the American denied the World No. 2 a potential return to the top of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings — a title run for the Spaniard combined with a third-round exit for Carlos Alcaraz would have seen Nadal move past his countryman at the summit.

“It’s probably my best win,” Paul said post-match. “I was obviously pumped for the matchup because it’s always interesting when you play one of the Big Three. I’ve only played him the second time, but the first time I was so nervous. It was weird, this time I wasn’t really nervous. I was pretty relaxed going onto the court and the day before. I think that played a role. I came out playing pretty well. He got the first set, but I feel like I played pretty well from the jump.”

After a late start to the Paris evening session, Paul trailed by a set and a break before an instant reply saw him break Nadal at love for 2-2 in the second. The American began to dictate from there, creating three further break chances with his aggressive baseline game before sealing the set in the tie-break.

“I thought when I was making my first serve, I was playing well,” said Paul, who made 67 per cent of his first deliveries in the second set. “I had a lot of fun out there. It was probably the best I’ve played in the past three months. I know it’s been a slow Europe swing for me, so I’m pumped to get that W.”

.@TommyPaul1 played some very aggressive and effective tennis tonight, especially in the 3rd set 👇#InAttack shows the percentage of shots played in attack #TennisInsights | @RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters https://t.co/sUjlNhMnKw pic.twitter.com/SevikAetf7

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) November 2, 2022

A loose service game from Nadal handed Paul an early lead in the decider, and the American drove home his advantage after surviving a dramatic game to hold for 3-1. Nadal was millimetres from levelling the set after digging out of a 0/40 hole on return, but a would-be winner landed just wide with Nadal’s challenge unsuccessful. At deuce, a successful Paul challenge on the same sideline erased a Nadal winner and paved the way for the crucial hold.

Paul padded his lead in the ensuing game, firing a winner and flashing his speed to track down a drop shot to break for the fourth time. A fifth break finished the match after two hours, 32 minutes. 

The American improved to 4-4 against the Top 5, with his best previous win coming against then-World No. 3 Alexander Zverev in a third-set tie-break this year at Indian Wells. He will next face another Spaniard in Pablo Carreno Busta in what will be the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Nadal, who was competing in an ATP Tour event for the first time since the US Open — and the first time as a father — showed flashes of brilliance but could not sustain top form, particularly down the stretch as he appeared out of sorts. He produced a highlight-reel shot as he tracked down a lob in set two, opting for a spinning forehand rather than a tweener and roping it past a stunned Paul for a passing-shot winner.

Following the defeat, Nadal can turn his attention to the Nitto ATP Finals from 13-20 November. The full Turin singles field was confirmed on Wednesday, with Felix Auger-Aliassime and Andrey Rublev sealing the final two spots after Taylor Fritz’s exit.

After seeing a match point of their own go begging in the second set, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury had to fend off a match point to survive on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters.

Facing the French duo of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in front of the Paris crowd, the top seeds won the final three points of the match to secure a 7-5, 6-7(4), 11-9 victory and advance to the quarter-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 event. After Ram/Salisbury claimed the first break of the match to seal the opening set, they had a chance to finish the match on a deciding point on return at 5-4 in the second but could not convert.

The American-British duo rescued the Match Tie-break from 6/8, winning five of its final six points to become the first team to reach the quarters.

Daniel Evans and John Peers also advanced via a Match Tie-break on Wednesday, reaching the second round with a 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 win against Maxime Cressy and Gonzalo Escobar. Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray joined them with a 6-2, 7-6(1) win against Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Quentin Halys, making it two Australian-British teams in the win column on the day. For Murray, the victory moves him to 499 career doubles wins.

Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin ensured there would be a victorious French team on Wednesday with a 6-4, 7-5 win against Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev.

The singles field for the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals is set. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Andrey Rublev on Wednesday claimed the final two spots for the season finale, which will be played at the Pala Alpitour in Turin from 13-20 November.

Auger-Aliassime and Rublev join Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in the Turin field.

Four of this year’s singles competitors — Alcaraz, Nadal, Djokovic and Medvedev — have reached No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Djokovic, Tsitsipas and Medvedev have previously won the Nitto ATP Finals. Five-time champion Djokovic can tie Roger Federer’s record of six season finale triumphs.

There is also a surge of rising stars at the year-end championships, with six of the eight competitors — excluding only Djokovic and Nadal — aged 26 or younger. All six of those players have previously qualified for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals.

Tsitsipas is the only player who has won the 21-and-under season finale and the Nitto ATP Finals in back-to-back years (2018-2019). Alcaraz will attempt to match the feat this year.

ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said: “The Nitto ATP Finals celebrates the best of the best in our game. Everything’s on the line for the players, whose remarkable achievements this season have earned them a chance to compete for its final title. Over more than 50 years this special event has created unique and unforgettable experiences for millions of fans, both in the arena and around the world. We’re thrilled to see the Nitto ATP Finals continue its incredible story in Turin this season.”

Five of the eight doubles slots in Turin have also been secured. Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski, Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury, Marcelo Arevalo/Jean-Julien Rojer, Nikola Mektic/Mate Pavic and Thanasi Kokkinakis/Nick Kyrgios have qualified.

This year’s Nitto ATP Finals will award a record $14.75 million in prize money. If the champion at this year’s tournament lifts the trophy without losing a match, he will earn more than $4.7 million, the largest prize money for an individual player in the history of tennis.

This will be the second edition of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The draw is set to take place on Thursday 10 November at noon CET.

With his position atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on the line this week at the Rolex Paris Masters, Carlos Alcaraz opened his campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Yoshihito Nishioka on centre court. The Spaniard must reach the quarter-finals to guarantee a stay as World No. 1, with Rafael Nadal within striking distance should he win the title at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Alcaraz was sharp in his first ATP Head2Head meeting with Nishioka, firing 30 winners and winning 11 of 12 net points in the one-hour, 12-minute contest. He hit nine aces in a strong serving performance, though he lost the only break point he faced as his Japanese opponent converted to level the opening set at 4-4.

Alcaraz responded with an immediate break back before serving out the opener, and used a finishing flurry to close out the match, winning 12 of the final 14 points. He recorded five love holds, including in his final service game, winning 85 per cent (29/34) of his first-serve points.

The Spaniard awaits Grigor Dimitrov or Fabio Fognini in the third round, with Andrey Rublev, Hubert Hurkacz and Holger Rune potential quarter-final opponents.

Nishioka finalises his 2022 ATP Tour season at 19-17, his best result a title run in Seoul last month. The 27-year-old was seeking his first career win against a reigning World No. 1.

Felix Auger-Aliassime produced a remarkable recovery to fend off Mikael Ymer and extend his winning streak to 14 matches on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters.

After dropping the first set against the Swede, Auger-Aliassime faced two break points when trailing 1-4 in the second set as Ymer looked set to snap his opponent’s unbeaten run in style. Yet the Canadian dug deep to hold his serve before roaring back to complete a thrilling 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(6) triumph in three hours and 30 minutes at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

“Somehow I found a second wind after saving those break points at 4-1,” said Auger-Aliassime after the match. “I played better and better, coming through the court much better, serving better. It was pretty epic. Three hours and 30 minutes on the court, quality rallies. He was making me work all the time. Definitely a win to remember.”

Felix. Auger. Aliassime. 🤫@felixtennis rallies from 6-7 1-4 down to defeat Ymer in 3 hours 30 minutes!#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/JAlsZVSpV9

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 2, 2022

A few hours after his comeback win, Auger-Aliassime was given another reason to celebrate in Paris when his qualification for November’s Nitto ATP Finals was confirmed as a result of second-round defeats for Taylor Fritz and Hubert Hurkacz. The Canadian will make his debut at the prestigious season finale, to be held in Turin from 13-20 November.

In his match against Ymer, Auger-Aliassime kept himself alive by excelling at crucial moments — the Canadian converted four of five break points he had while saving 14 of 17 that he faced. His determination to stay on the front foot as often as possible also proved key. According to Tennis Data Innovation’s INSIGHTS In Attack analysis for the second-round clash, the Canadian hit 31 per cent of his shots from attacking positions compared to Ymer’s 16 per cent.

_{^{INSIGHTS In Attack for Felix Auger-Aliassime Vs. Mikael Ymer}}

Auger-Aliassime’s recent run has seen the 22-year-old win titles in Florence, Antwerp and Basel, and the eighth seed is now into the third round in Paris for the first time in three appearances as he chases his maiden Masters 1000 crown.

“[I’m pretty tired], but it’s not the time to complain and whine,” said Auger-Aliassime. “I decided to play these events, I won three of them, so I can’t complain. It’s fantastic.

“Here, I’m just trying to give my best. Let’s go and see day-by-day how I feel. Definitely today was a tough one, not only just the game but the way he was playing as well, he was making me work a lot. That added extra toughness to the match.”

Fritz and Hurkacz still had a chance of catching Auger-Aliassime and Andrey Rublev in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin if they could reach the championship match in Paris. Both players’ hopes were ended on a dramatic evening in Paris, where Fritz became the second consecutive player to fall in three sets to an inspired Gilles Simon.

_{^{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

Simon, playing the final tournament of his professional career, backed up his thrilling first-round win against Andy Murray with a stirring 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 victory against Fritz. He converted four of 11 break points to extend his career by at least one more round in Paris, where he will meet Auger-Aliassime in the third round.

Hurkacz’s Turin qualification hopes were ended by Holger Rune, who prevailed 7-5, 6-1 in the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting to book a third-round clash against Rublev.

Rune, who next week will compete at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, did not face a break point in his 64-minute win. The Stockholm champion has now won 15 of his past 17 matches in the European indoor hard-court season.