PARIS, November 2, 2018

The Rolex Paris Masters quarterfinals on Friday featured an outstanding line-up with five of the top six seeds, led by No. 2 and four-time champion Novak Djokovic, No. 3 and 2011 winner Roger Federer, No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 5 Marin Cilic and No. 6 Dominic Thiem.

Djokovic came in with an ATP World Tour season-high 20-match winning streak and personal-best 30 sets won in a row streak into his evening session match against Cilic, who has become the first man to take a set off the Serbian since Tennys Sandgren in the second round of the US Open. Cilic, who beat Djokovic in Paris two years ago in the same round after 14 straight losses, however, lost after two hours and 10 minutes 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

“It was a tight match with a lot of emotions and it could have gone either way today,” Djokovic told afterwards.

21 on the spin for @DjokerNole 🙌

But boy was he pushed hard by Marin Cilic… Nole prevails 6-4 2-6 6-3 in over two hours #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/r2xaBdZGfF

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 2. November 2018

The first match of the day was between the two youngest players remaining, as 22-year-old Karen Khachanov defeated 21-year-old German Alexander Zverev for the first time. Khachanov won 81 per cent of his first service points to seal a 6-1, 6-2 victory in one hour and 10 minutes.

“I’m just enjoying playing good tennis right now,” said Khachanov. “Especially the past couple of month. After winning Moscow, honestly, in Vienna it was tough for me to play emotionally. I’m playing confidently and playing good tennis right now.”

The World No. 18 from Russia will next take on Dominic Thiem, who fought past US-American Jack Sock 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. The encounter lasted two hours and 14 minutes.

In the final match on, Federer extended his head-to-head record against Nishikori to 7-2, winning 6-4, 6-4. Nishikori had to beat the Swiss in order to keep his London hopes alive. Through Federer’s win, Cilic and Thiem grabbed the last two spots.