Djokovic Begins His Quest For Seventh Paris Masters Title With A Solid Victory

PARIS/WASHINGTON, November 1, 2023 (by Michael Dickens)

Novak Djokovic‘s return to the ATP Tour at the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday afternoon was not only successful, it was also marked by precision timing and execution.

Over the course of just 84 minutes, the World No. 1 Djokovic, a six-time Paris champion, broke Tomas Martin Etcheverry‘s serve three times and committed just nine unforced errors while efficiently hitting 21 winners in his 6-3, 6-2 second-round victory over the 31st-ranked Argentine. It was Etcheverry’s fourth Top-10 loss this season.

“I am pleased,” Djokovic said after his win, his first official match in six weeks, as quoted by the ATP website. “I think I played well in the important points. Hit the extra shot and made him uncomfortable. I think I changed the position of the court and did not give him the same look. I think that allowed me to break serve in the first set. I was serving up and down. Some parts of the match really good, others losing the rhythm. But I think it is normal to be rusty a little bit after not playing an official match for so long. But a straight-sets win against a guy who has been improving so much.”

It was the 36-year-old Djokovic’s 47th triumph in 52 matches this season, which includes three major crowns – Australian Open, French Open, US Open – as well as titles won in Adelaide and Cincinnati.

The top-seeded Djokovic, a winner of 96 tour-level titles, improved to 46-9 lifetime at the year’s last Masters 1000 event with his latest win. The Serbian is pursuing a record-extending 40th ATP Masters 1000 title as well as the year-end No. 1 trophy. Djokovic leads Carlos Alcaraz by 580 points in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He could extend that lead to 1,495 points if he garners a record-extending seventh Rolex Paris Masters title.

On a Thursday, Djokovic will face No. 23 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands for a berth in the quarterfinals.

Dimitrov gains sweet revenge on Medvedev at Paris Masters

It took seven match points for Grigor Dimitrov to pull out his second-round victory over World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev, after losing to the Russian in the second round of last week’s Erste Bank Open in Vienna. Yet, after two hours and 54 minutes, the No. 17 from Bulgaria got his revenge. Dimitrov battled his way to a 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2) victory in Paris.

Six days ago, Dimitrov let skip a set lead before losing to Medvedev. This time, he struck 48 winners to just 22 for his opponent en route to garnering his first win over Medvedev since 2021.

Dimitrov was ahead 5-2 in the final set before squandering four match points on his own serve at 5-4 and then another two on his return at 6-5. However, he kept his composure and dominated the decisive tie-break after jumping out to a 5-0 lead.

“It’s extremely difficult,” said Dimitrov, in his post-match interview, commenting on how he held himself together when after missing so many match points. “You have to accept, there is not much to do. The moment has passed. In the end, I had to just remain in the game, looking after my shots and trying create some opportunities again.

“I knew I might have another one. We both were fairly tired. In the end we had some crazy rallies and amazing points. It came down to a few points here and there, just like the last match [in Vienna].”

After going 24-6 at Masters 1000 events this season – including winning two titles, Miami and Rome – Medvedev has gone out after losing his first match in Paris. Now, it’s on to Turin for the eight-player Nitto ATP Finals, where he has qualified third.

“I managed to raise my level during the match, so in a way, for sure, I’m very disappointed with the match and the result,” Medvedev said in his post-match press conference, “but I don’t see too much I could do better and I think I played a good match. So, I probably should try to stay positive.”

Meanwhile, Dimitrov improved to 38-20, including a 6-10 win-loss record against Top 10 opponents. Next, he will take on No. 33 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.

Around the Rolex Paris Masters

• World No. 6 and seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece won a Top-20 battle over No. 19 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, 6-3, 7-6 (4), by serving well under pressure. During the one-hour, 48-minute victory, Tsitsipas saved six of seven break points he faced in beating his rival for the sixth time in nine career meetings. The win solidified his sixth-place standing in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Tsitsipas rallied from 2-5 down in the second set against the recent Basel champion, saving four set points along the way, en route to his first win over Auger-Aliassime since 2021. He hit 18 winners, made just nine unforced errors and outpointed Auger-Aliassime 81-65.

The victory was the 49th of the season for the 25-year-old Tsitsipas, who will face No. 10 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany in the next round. Zverev needed three hours and 28 minutes to beat France’s 26th-ranked Ugo Humbert, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), Wednesday evening.

• Dutch qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp eliminated No. 12 seed Tommy Paul of the United States, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, by winning 77 percent of his second-serve points and saving 14 of 16 break points he faced from the American. Total points were level at 101. Next, the 60th-ranked van de Zandschulp will face No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia, who advanced to the third round early Wednesday morning with a 6-4, 6-3 win over 49th-ranked qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan.

• No. 11 seed Hubert Hurkacz, who a day earlier rose to ninth place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin after defeating American Sebastian Korda, needed less than an hour to win his 14th Masters 1000 match in his last 16. The 11th-ranked Polish star beat No. 66 seed Roberto Bautista Agut, 6-3, 6-2, behind 19 aces and 33 overall winners. Hurkacz, who began the match with 985 aces this season, surpassed the 1,000-ace plateau, which was last achieved by Americans John Isner and Reilly Opelka in 2019.

“I’m really excited about hitting 1,000 aces this season,” Hurkacz told the ATP website. “Hopefully there are still a couple more to come, but didn’t expect it at the beginning of the year, so definitely the serve has been working a little bit. Just excited, hopefully it’s going to help me to put a couple of more good results this year and really proud of the work with the whole team.”

Next, Hurkacz will oppose No. 21 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, who hit 28 winners in his upset of No. 8 seed Casper Ruud of Norway, 7-5, 6-4, which took 90 minutes.

• World No. 13 Alex de Minaur of Australia earned his 200th career tour-level victory with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 48th-ranked Serbian lucky loser Dusan Lajovic. De Minaur hit 38 winners, including 10 aces, and outpointed Lajovic 99-84 to move into the third round against either No. 4 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy or No. 42 Mackenzie McDonald of the United States.

• World No. 7 and sixth seed Holger Rune of Denmark burned the midnight oil late Wednesday into early Thursday to beat 108th-ranked qualifier Dominic Thiem of Austria, 6-4, 6-2, to advance to the third round. Rune hit 28 winners and saved all five break points he faced from Thiem during their 90-minute second-round match. He maintains a 215-point lead over Hubert Hurkacz for the eighth and final spot in the Nitto ATP Finals line-up. Next, Rune will face No. 54 Daniel Altmaier of Germany.

Wednesday’s Rolex Paris Masters results

Thursday’s Rolex Paris Masters order of play

By the numbers

Grigor Dimitrov won his 10th ATP Masters 1000 match of the season (10-7) with his victory against Daniil Medvedev. It was the 125th of career (125-90). He is 6-10 vs. Top 10 players this season and in the past month has defeated then-No. 4 Holger Rune, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Medvedev.

“Quotable …”

“I just didn’t feel well on the court. A lot of things to improve, a lot of things to practice. I didn’t move well. In the shots, I think I had a good quality of shots. But physically in the part of movement, I have to improve a lot.”

– World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, during his post-match press conference following his 6-3, 6-4 second-round loss to 45th-ranked Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin on Tuesday evening.

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