Alex de Minaur fought off an early scare at the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday to continue his pursuit of Nitto ATP Finals qualification.
De Minaur held on in seventh place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, beating the big-serving Gabriel Diallo 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-3 after a chaotic two hours and 37 minutes.
A tight tiebreak in the first set told the story of the match. While Diallo grabbed early momentum by storming into a 5/0 lead, De Minaur captured five straight points to once again put pressure on the chasing Canadian.
Diallo had three set points in the tiebreak – including two on his serve – but De Minaur’s defensive skill forced repeated forehand errors from the 24-year-old. The Canadian finished with 66 unforced errors, including 36 from his forehand, four more than De Minaur’s total of 32 unforced errors.
De Minaur is aiming for a place at the season finale of Turin, which runs from November 9 to 16. With 41 hard court wins on the season, the 26-year-old is just 35 points behind sixth-placed Ben Shelton, who is still based in Paris. Italian Lorenzo Sonego upset compatriot and eighth-place Lorenzo Musetti on Wednesday with 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Next up for De Minaur is 10th seed Karen Khachanov, who won his biggest career title at the Rolex Paris Masters in 2018. Khachanov has won two of his three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings against De Minaur.
Did you know?
De Minaur is the fourth man since 2016 to reach the Round of 16 of at least eight of the season’s nine ATP Masters 1000 events. Milos Raonic (2016), Rafael Nadal (2017) and Alexander Zverev (2024) also achieved this feat.
Watch extended highlights of Wednesday’s action in Paris:
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