PARIS/STARNBERG, November 5, 2022
Novak Djokovic has booked his spot in the semi-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters. The No. 6 seed of the final ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season eased past #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-0, 6-3 on Friday.
Djokovic showed his all-round quality, broke his rival’s serve five times and won 65 per cent of the total points played to secure victory in one hour and 14 minutes.
Still in the hunt for a 7th Bercy title ⚡️@DjokerNole flies past Musetti 6-0 6-3 and awaits the winner of Tsitsipas-Paul in the semi-finals!#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/6wXR5CgdLK
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 4, 2022
The defending champion from Serbia will next face Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat US-American Tommy Paul 6-2, 6-4 in the day’s final match.
In the top half of the draw, Holger Rune benefited from the retirement of World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. The 18-year-old Dane was leading 6-3, 6-6 when the Spaniard was forced to stop playing due to injury.
“I cannot stretch. I couldn’t serve well, I couldn’t hit the forehand well,” said reigning US Open champion Alcaraz, who is set to make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin next week, which is indicative of his rise over the past 12 months.
He will also be hoping to be fully fit for the Davis Cup Finals, which take place in the Spanish city of Malaga at the end of the month.
Rune will next take on in-form Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over US-American Frances Tiafoe in one hour and 33 minutes.
SWEET SIXTEEN 💜@felixtennis extends his remarkable winning streak, defeating Tiafoe 6-1 6-4 to reach the Paris semi-finals!#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/w3UMcUntzJ
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 4, 2022
“Of course a few times the luck was on my side, but I feel like also I played a great match,” said Auger-Aliassime after clinching a Tour-leading 27th indoor victory in 2022. “We’ve played a few times. In New York [in 2021] it was tight sets, we played in Barcelona this year also, two not easy sets. To come out and play the way I did in the first set, 6-1, it was great.
“Of course, I had match points at 5-3… [He] tried everything and tried many different ways to stay in the match. He did for one more game, but I’m happy that I was able to be clutch in those moments. Serving for the match and [I] stayed cool and played great points when I needed to.”
