Tsitsipas Is Turin Bound After Paris Masters Victory Against Zverev

Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas (photo: Florian Heer)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, November 2, 2023 (by Michael Dickens)

Thursday afternoon’s featured match at the Rolex Paris Masters paired together two of the biggest servers on the ATP Tour, who happen to also be Top-10 stars, World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas and World No. 9 Alexander Zverev.

For nearly two hours, in their 13th career head-to-head battle, the seventh-seeded Greek matched his power – 37 winners, including 10 aces – against the No. 10 seed Zverev of Germany, who countered with five aces and 28 winners. When it was over, it was Tsitsipas who prevailed, 7-6 (2), 6-4, to achieve his 50th tour-level win of the season and wrap up a berth in the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals. It was the ninth time Tsitsipas has triumphed over Zverev.

The 25-year-old Tsitsipas, who was a Paris semifinalist last year, will play No. 16 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Tsitsipas, who has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fifth consecutive year, is the sixth of eight players to qualify. He joins Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev at the season finale, Nov. 12-19, which will take place at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy.

“It’s awesome. What a great relief to finally get that spot,” Tsitsipas said in his post-match interview following his win against Zverev. “I’ve been working extremely hard the whole year … and it’s a moment of relief that I’ve made it to one of my favorite events of the year and I get the opportunity to play in from my Italian fans, but also get some Greek people in.

“I’m thrilled to be playing good tennis. I’m humbled in victory now and I really want to keep going strong and show some of my potential out there on the Bercy court.”

Meanwhile, Tsitsipas’s quarterfinal opponent, the World No. 15 Khachanov, reached his ninth quarterfinal of the season and third in an ATP Masters 1000 event with his 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Roman Safiullin in two hours and seven minutes.

The 45th-ranked qualifier Safiullin was coming off his biggest career win over World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain on Tuesday and appearing in the third round for the fourth time in his last five ATP Masters 1000 appearances (Madrid, Rome, Shanghai, Paris). However, the 2018 Paris champ Khachanov kept Safiullin from advancing to his first career ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal, thanks to hitting 11 aces and 25 winners.

Ailing Djokovic rallies against Griekspoor

World No. 23 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands came into his Thursday evening third-round match against top seed Novak Djokovic attempting to become the first Dutchman to beat a World No. 1 since Raemon Sluiter defeated No. 1 Lloyd Hewitt at Stockholm in 2002. For a while, after Griekspoor won the opening set, things looked promising. However, the Serbian had other ideas.

Djokovic had won 27 of his last 28 matches since the beginning of Roland Garros with his only loss coming against Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. After going the distance over the course of two hours and 39 minutes – and battling some physical limitations – Djokovic came alive in the final set and won the final eight points of the match to beat Griekspoor, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, for his 15th consecutive victory.

Afterward, in his post-match interview, Djokovic said he struggled with a stomach ailment.

“I don’t want to take anything away from his performance. He didn’t drop the level,” Djokovic said. “Maybe in the third set a few games he did a bit, but he was playing at a very high level and credit to him for that performance. If he would be the winner tonight, it would be absolutely deserved. 

“I started off well but I ran out of steam. I’ve been struggling the last couple of days with my stomach and I just didn’t feel myself at all. I was just trying to hold my serve and get to a tie-break, which happened in the second. I got lucky on a couple of shots there. It could have easily gone his way, but overall I played a good tie-break and I started to feel better in the third. I’m really, really glad to overcome this challenge.”

The victory advanced Djokovic to his ninth straight Paris quarterfinal against 20-year-old No. 6 seed Holger Rune, whom he lost to in last year’s final. The World No. 7 from Denmark beat No. 54 Daniel Altmaier of Germany, 6-3, 6-3, in an hour and 20 minutes Thursday night, clinching the win with his fifth ace.

Rune, who hit 21 winners to just 13 unforced errors against Altmaier, has strung together eight straight wins in Paris dating back to his Paris-Bercy debut last year. He’s through to his third ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal, following his earlier success in Monte-Carlo and Rome, and it’s also his 10th quarterfinal overall in 2023.

Sinner pulls all-nighter to advance, then pulls out of Paris

Little did Jannik Sinner realize that his quest for a second ATP masters 1000 title this season would keep him up well past his bedtime Wednesday night for his first match. Ultimately, fatigue from not finishing until well after 2 a.m. caused Sinner to pull out of the Rolex Paris Masters by Thursday afternoon.

When, Sinner, the World No. 4 and fourth seed from Italy, played American Mackenzie McDonald in the second round – the sixth and last match of the day on Court Central in Accor Arena Wednesday – they didn’t take court until after midnight and played on for two hours and 16 minutes, ending at 2:37 a.m. Paris time. It was the second time this week that a tournament match extended past 2 a.m.

Despite committing 35 unforced errors, Sinner hit 29 winners and wrapped up the lengthy 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1 victory.

Later, in a social media post, Sinner wrote to declare his withdrawal (translated from Italian): “I am sorry to announce that I am withdrawing from today’s match in Bercy. I finished the match when it was almost 3 in the morning and didn’t go to bed until a few hours later. I had less than 12 hours to rest and prepare for the next match.

“I have to make the right decision for my health and my body. The weeks ahead with the ATP Finals at home and the Davis Cup will be very important. Now I focus on preparing for these important events. See you in Turin! Forza!”

Around the Rolex Paris Masters

• No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia became only the fourth player this season to garner 20 ATP Masters 1000 victories after beating 60th-ranked Dutch qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp, 6-3, 6-3, in just 64 minutes to advance to his 12th quarterfinal of the season.

The World No. 5 from Moscow struck 18 winners and made just four unforced errors to improve to 20-7 in Masters 1000 play this season and to reach his eighth different ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal. The loss denied van de Zandschulp a berth in his first Masters 1000 last eight.

“Today it went my way,” Rublev said in a post-match interview, as quoted by the ATP website. “Early breaks gave me some confidence. From one set up you play with more freedom and then with a break in the second more free. Then you can go for even more.”

Next, Rublev will oppose No. 13 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia, who advanced by walk over after No. 4 seed Jannik Sinner withdrew from the tournament citing fatigue.

• No. 17 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, the second-oldest player remain in the draw at age 32, reached the Paris quarterfinals for the second time and first since 2019 with his 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 33 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. It came a day after Dimitrov eliminated No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev.

Dimitrov broke Bublik’s serve five times during their 67-minute match to reach his second ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal of the season following his recent success in Shanghai, and it’s his ninth tour-level quarterfinal overall. The win improved Dimitrov’s career record in third-round matches in Paris to 2-8.

Next, Dimitrov will face No. 11 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, who defeated No. 21 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, 6-4, 6-3, in 68 minutes. Hurkacz has won 15 of his last 17 matches at the ATP Masters 1000 level and has passed Taylor Fritz of the United States for No. 9 in Pepperstone ATP Race to Turin. On Wednesday, he hit 19 aces in his second-round win victory to surpass 1,000 aces this season. He added eight to his total against Cerundolo on Thursday and now has 1,012 aces.

• No. 2 seeds Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Neal Skupski of Great Britain, who announced they would end their doubles partnership at the conclusion of the season, extended their Paris-Bercy winning streak to five matches after defeating Russians Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in 93 minutes. The 2022 champs will play Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France in Friday’s quarterfinal round. Both teams have already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals.

Thursday’s Rolex Paris Masters results

Friday’s Rolex Paris Masters order of play

By the numbers

Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor came into the Rolex Paris Masters with a 1-10 career record in ATP Masters 1000 play before posting wins over Christopher Eubanks and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

“Quotable …”

“Of course, it was an excellent match. I would have preferred winning. It’s the only regret. … I was not able to offer the victory to my fans. That’s what I’m most disappointed about. Regarding how I played, I made more positives than negatives. I just have to continue in that direction. Over the last year I have been working very hard every day, so I have no regrets. Just I have to continue and one day I will win these types of matches. I feel that I have the level to win these kinds of events.”

– Ugo Humbert of France, from his post-match press conference Wednesday evening after losing to No. 10 seed Alexander Zverev in a third-set tie-break.

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