Novak Djokovic gave #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti a rude welcome to his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final as the Serbian eased to victory on Friday at the Rolex Paris Masters. In a 6-0, 6-3 win, Djokovic did not allow the 20-year-old a game point in the first seven games, then quickly overturned a break deficit to run away with the second set and the match.

Seeking his seventh Paris crown, the defending champion extended his dual win streaks to 12 matches both overall in Bercy, where he won titles in his past two appearances in 2019 and 2021. With victory in what was his 90th Masters quarter-final, Djokovic advanced to his 74th semi-final at the prestigious level and will next face Stefanos Tsitsipas, a 6-2, 6-4 winner against Tommy Paul in the day’s final match. The 74 semi-finals stand at second-most all-time, behind Nadal’s 76.

The Serbian was particularly dominant with his forehand against Musetti, firing eight winners off that wing as he controlled play throughout. For the match, he received a forehand Shot Quality grade of 9.2 on a 10-point scale. (Learn more about Shot Quality.)

Musetti was unable to follow up the biggest win of his career, against World No. 4 Casper Ruud on Thursday, with another upset against Djokovic. Despite the defeat, the Italian has enjoyed a strong final stretch this season, winning his first hard-court title last month in Naples and winning nine of his past 12 matches. 

After falling to 0-3 in his ATPHead2Head against Djokovic, he will next turn his attention to the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, set for 8-12 November in Milan.

Djokovic, bidding for his fifth title of the 2022 season, improved to 36-6 on the year. He will need to complete a successful title defence in Paris to maintain his World No. 7 Pepperstone ATP Ranking ahead of the Nitto ATP Finals, which begins on 13 November in Turin.

Holger Rune advanced to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final on Friday at the Rolex Paris Masters after Carlos Alcaraz was forced to retire from the pair’s quarter-final clash.

After charging to the opening set, Rune held firm to force a tie-break as World No. 1 Alcaraz stepped up his level in the second. Having had treatment on an abdominal muscle at 6-5, however, Alcaraz was forced to retire with Rune leading 3/1 in the second-set tie-break at 6-3, 6-6 .

“I thought it was a great match. [It’s] unlucky for him,” said Rune. “I think we both played very well and I was super focused. It was an amazing crowd, amazing tennis, so I’m super pleased with how I handled everything today.”

The #NextGenATP Dane Rune will next take on Felix Auger-Aliassime in his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final. The eighth-seeded Canadian earlier downed Frances Tiafoe 6-1, 6-4.

More to follow…

One year ago, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune met in the group stage of the 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. Since then, both 19-year-olds have rocketed up the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Alcaraz rising to World No. 1 and Rune reaching a career high of No. 18.

The future has arrived, and fans at the Rolex Paris Masters will see it first-hand on Friday as Alcaraz and Rune square off for a second time in the quarter-finals. 

The unseeded Rune — a finalist in each of his past three events, including a run to his second career title in Stockholm — has had the more challenging path to the final eight. He edged Stan Wawrinka in a third-set tie-break in the first round before impressive straight-sets wins against 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz and seventh seed Andrey Rublev. The Dane has won 16 of his past 18 matches, including wins against Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Alcaraz has yet to drop a set in Paris as he’s rounded into form with wins against Yoshihito Nishioka and Grigor Dimitrov. 

“I would say I played better,” he said following a 6-1, 6-3 win against Dimitrov on Thursday. “I’m more used to playing here in this court, in these conditions. I’m happy with the performance, and of course really happy with be able to play my first quarter-final here in Bercy.”

The Spaniard reached the second round last year at the ATP Masters 1000, while Rune is making his tournament debut.

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Also in the draw’s top half, Felix Auger-Aliassime will seek to extend his 14-match win streak when he takes on US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe, who has won all six sets he’s played this week. The Canadian is seeking his fourth straight title after triumphs in Florence, Antwerp and Basel.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic will look to stay perfect against #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti in their bottom-half matchup, with the Serbian 2-0 in their previous ATP Head2Head meetings. Six-time Paris titlist Djokovic has progressed to the quarters with straight-sets wins against Maxime Cressy and Karen Khachanov, while Musetti upset third seed Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to advance on Thursday.

Djokovic is riding an 11-match win streak after titles in Tel Aviv and Astana, and has claimed 12 straight victories in Paris dating back to his trophy runs in 2019 and 2021. The Serbian has also won 19 of his past 20 matches since the start of Wimbledon – losing only to Auger-Aliassime at the Laver Cup — but is taking nothing for granted against Musetti.

“He’s definitely a much-improved player on [hard courts],” Djokovic said of his 20-year-old opponent. “He has had some big wins this week, his first [hard-court] title a few weeks ago [in Naples].

“He’s so talented, he’s got everything in his game. He can play in the court, he can defend well, he’s got great movement, but I know his game well and I’m looking forward to a good challenge.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Tommy Paul will contest the fourth quarter-final, with the American bidding to knock out a third seeded opponent in succession. Paul knocked out a trio of Spaniards to reach the quarters, including a comeback, three-set upset of second seed Rafael Nadal in the second round. He also blitzed past Roberto Bautista Agut in the opening round and 14th seed Pablo Carreno Busta on Thursday.

The fifth-seeded Tsitsipas joins Djokovic, Alcaraz and Tiafoe with an undefeated set record on the week following wins against Daniel Evans and home favourite Corentin Moutet. The Greek won both prior meetings with Paul in straight sets, in Washington, D.C., in 2019 and Lyon in 2021.

Jamie Murray walked off Court 2 on Thursday happy to be in the quarter-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters with partner Matthew Ebden. What he did not know is that their triumph against third seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer marked his 500th tour-level win.

“It’s cool. I wasn’t aware of that at all, actually, that I was close to getting there. But it’s a cool thing, a nice milestone to have in your career,” Murray told ATPTour.com. “It doesn’t feel like I’ve been winning that much this year, so a nice way to finish the year and give a nice motivation for next season and try to get to 600 at some point.”

Murray became just the second active doubles player to reach the 500-wins mark, joining Brazilian Marcelo Melo (590-375). It is another big achievement for the Scot, who has climbed to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings and lifted 27 tour-level trophies.

“The thing with tennis is it’s so constant and you’re always thinking about the next event or the next match or the next practice. You’re kind of always looking to the future, you’re not always in the present or taking time to take stock of what you’ve done in your career,” Murray said. “I’ve obviously had a really good career to this point. Always want to do better and strive for more, but if you’d told me as a kid that I’d win 500 matches on the ATP Tour, I probably would have been like, ‘Yes please, I’ll take that!’ It’s motivating to go for more and try to keep working hard, try to get more success, be in the winners’ circle as often as you can.

“It’s not easy, the level is really high these days all through the rankings. That’s a cool thing to achieve, but let’s go for more.”

One of the most memorable wins of Murray’s 500 came in the 2008 Delray Beach final. Max Mirnyi and Murray defeated legendary duo Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. It was the Scot’s first victory against the twin brothers.

“They were the greatest ever and it’s who I think all the guys look up to and get on Tour with a chance to play against them and compete against them,” Murray said. “I was fortunate to play against them so many times in the end but I think when I beat them with Max Mirnyi in Delray, at that point you’re thinking, ‘Okay, I can compete here on the Tour and maybe do some good things.’ That one stands out for me.”

Other matches Murray recalled include when he claimed his first ATP Tour title in 2007 in San Jose with Eric Butorac and emerging victorious in 2018 in Cincinnati with Bruno Soares.

Murray will next year be playing with Kiwi Michael Venus. But for now, he is focussed on finishing the year on a high in Paris with an ATP Masters 1000 title still to play for. Then it will be back to work as the lefty continues his push back to the top.

“It’s easy for me right now because this year was difficult, last year was kind of difficult as well. Now my ranking has dropped a bit, but I still feel like I’m capable of playing at the top of the game and being in the Top 10,” Murray said. “I want to try to get back there, that’s my motivation. And obviously it helps to be winning matches in these events.”

Three Nitto ATP Finals doubles contenders pushed their claims at the Rolex Paris Masters Thursday, but Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, who have already booked their spot in Turin, suffered an opening-round loss in Bercy.

Third seeds Arevalo and Rojer won the first set against Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray but slipped to a 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 defeat as Murray rallied to claim his 500th career match win.

After saving two match points, seventh seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara, who are next in line to qualify for Turin, converted their fourth match point in a narrow 6-3, 6-7(5), 15-13 victory over Daniel Evans and John Peers. Glasspool and Heliovaara, who are sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, will face Ebden and Murray in the quarter-finals Friday.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek, seventh in the Race, extended their winning streak to nine by ousting German pair Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 7-6(5). Dodig and Krajicek won their previous two tournaments in Naples and Basel.

The Croatian-American duo will next meet top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the quarter-finals, a rematch from the Roland Garros quarter-final encounter, which Dodig and Krajicek won en route to a runner-up finish.

German Tim Puetz and Australian Michael Venus, who are ninth in the Race, escaped home favourites Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 3-6, 10-8.

Only two doubles qualification spots remain at the coveted Nitto ATP Finals.

After controlling the early action against home favourite Corentin Moutet on Thursday, Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a tense finish to advance the quarter-finals at the Rolex Paris Masters.

With his 6-3, 7-6(3) victory, Tsitsipas advances to his 14th quarter-final of the season and keeps alive his hopes of finishing the year atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He has moved up two places this week to No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, and could pass Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz with deep runs in both Paris and Turin.

“I’m happy because I knew I had to not just deal with a player today but also with the crowd,” Tsitsipas said after battling Moutet and the French crowd. “It’s not something that I really think about when I play, but it’s kind of present and it’s there. It worked out really well for me towards the end. I was very solid and consistent, knowing that I can really generate more opportunities from my serve.

“I was laser-focused on every single one of the points,” he continiued. “I played some good shots deep and short, and it was a very good ending.”

The Greek dominated the opening set with strong serving and held three break points at 0/40 early in the second. But Moutet’s battling hold changed the complexion of the match and invited the centre court crowd into the action, the 23-year-old delivering with 16 straight points on serve as he put Tsitsipas under pressure.

“I need to stay calm in these moments,” he said of that crucial period. “I’ve had situations like this in the past and I kind of know how it feels like not to be able to push through those situations. But I knew that he’s really zoned in and focused; that’s perhaps his last opportunity to show something. So I was just trying to stay in the moment, waiting for the opportunity perhaps deeper into the set. Eventually, with my qualities as a player, I was able to bring the best out of my game.”

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The fifth seed held firm and did not face a break point despite Moutet’s late surge, then turned around the decisive tie-break after falling behind 0/2, winning its final four points to secure his Tour-leading 59th win of the 2022 season.

While Moutet did much of his damage with his deft touch, Tsitsipas’ biggest weapon was his serve as he won 91 per cent (30/33) of points on his first delivery. Thanks in large part to his powerful serving, he spent much of the match on the front foot, hitting 29 per cent of his shots from attacking positions according to the INSIGHTS: In Attack metrics.

Through to the Paris quarter-finals for the second time (2019), the Greek will next face American Tommy Paul, a 6-4, 6-4 winner against 14th seed Pablo Carreno Busta in the day’s final match. Following Paris, Tsitsipas will close the year by making his fourth straight appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, beginning 13 November.

Moutet, who equalled the biggest win of his career by beating World No. 13 Cameron Norrie in a match that finished at 3:03 a.m. in the early hours of Thursday morning, was competing in the third round at an ATP Masters 1000 for the first time.

Novak Djokovic avenged his 2018 championship match defeat to Karen Khachanov in style on Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters, where the Serbian delivered a commanding performance for a 6-4, 6-1 third-round victory.

With the win, Djokovic extended his winning streak in tour-level matches to 11. It was also an 11th straight victory for the Serbian at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris, where he has not lost since he fell to Khachanov in the 2018 final.

“Khachanov is someone I know really well,” said Djokovic after the match. “We train [together] a lot, and we played almost 10 times against each other on different surfaces… He beat me four years ago in the final, so I know he likes this surface, he likes these conditions.

“The first [set] was quite even, I had my chances, he had a break, and he was hanging on and I broke his serve in the 10th game of the first set and I think after that the momentum shifted. In the second set I was a different player. I think I stepped it up even more, served better, and I’m just really pleased with the way I finished.”

Just an artist and his canvas 🎨@DjokerNole #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/i0pXbco6wY

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 3, 2022

The sixth-seeded Djokovic appeared in a confident mood after his opening win against Maxime Cressy but he was initially pegged back by Khachanov, who recovered an early 0-3 deficit to draw level in the opening set. The World No. 19 had little joy against the free-flowing Djokovic from that point on, however, as the Serbian converted four of eight break points and struck 17 winners to wrap an 87-minute win.

In quintessential Djokovic fashion, the Serbian’s defence proved decisive for nullifying Khachanov’s powerful groundstrokes. According to Tennis Data Innovation’s INSIGHTS Steal Scores for the match, the 90-time tour-level finalist found a way to win 50 per cent of points when he was defending, well above the ATP Tour average of 34 per cent.

_{^{Novak Djokovic Vs. Karen Khachanov: INSIGHTS Steal Score}}

Djokovic’s 11-match winning streak has included title runs in Tel Aviv and Astana, and the Serbian will seek to maintain his good European indoor hard-court form as he chases a record-extending seventh title in Paris and a record-equalling sixth crown at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin in two weeks’ time.

A title run in the French capital would also earn the 35-year-old a record-extending 39th Masters 1000 crown overall. His quarter-final opponent in Paris will be Lorenzo Musetti, who upset third seed Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 earlier on Thursday.

“He’s definitely a much-improved player on [hard courts],” said Djokovic of Musetti, who clinched his maiden tour-level trophy on the surface in October in Naples. “He has had some big wins this week, his first title a few weeks ago on [hard courts].

“He’s so talented, he’s got everything in his game. He can play in the court, he can defend well, he’s got great movement, but I know his game well and I’m looking forward to a good challenge.”