Following Carlos Alcaraz’s defeat on Tuesday, more seeds were dropped in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday, which could impact the final qualifying spots for next season’s end-of-season ATP finals in Turin.
Alex de Minaur has retained his place in seventh place, 35 points behind Ben Shelton, who is also competing in the French capital.
The Australian held off an aggressive Gabriel Diallo to complete a 7-6(8) 4-6 6-3 win after a thrilling two hours and 37 minutes as De Minaur recovered from 0-5 in the opening set to fend off three set points before claiming it.
Meanwhile, Felix Auger Aliassime kept his qualification hopes alive with a 5-7 7-6(5) 7-6(4) victory over Alexandre Muller. The Canadian, who sits 9th in the race standings, continues to put pressure on 8th-placed Lorenzo Musetti, knowing a loss would end any hopes of reaching Turin.
And as the score suggests, it was a tight battle against the home favourite, who had to recover from a set down and collapse to secure his important win.
Auger-Aliassime missed a match point on returning at 6–5, in the decider, but later won seven of the last eight points of the match to recover from 0–3 in the decisive tie-break to seal victory after three hours and five minutes and move to within 390 points behind the Italian.
The Canadian’s biggest rival for that final qualifying slot is Casper Ruud, who is two places behind him in 11th, but the eighth seed crashed out of the event as Daniel Altmaier swept him aside 6-3 7-5 to dash any hopes the Norwegian might have had.
Auger Alissime’s chances of replacing Musetti in eighth place improved dramatically as his compatriot Lorenzo Sonego recovered from dropping the first set to beat him 3-6 6-3 6-1.
As the match progressed it became clear that Musetti was reeling from a hectic run of matches he has played in recent months in defense of his position. The Canadian is now well positioned to do so by the end of the week, depending on how deep he goes next in the French capital.
Another possible contender is 12th-seeded Daniil Medvedev, a former finalist from Paris (2021), who was given a walkover by Grigor Dimitrov due to a shoulder injury.
For former No. 3 Dimitrov, his visit to Paris proved to be a short period in terms of competitive play for the 34-year-old Bulgarian, the 2023 champion, who spent three months on the sidelines with a chest injury.
In other action, defending champion Alexander Zverev had to dig deep to book his spot in the third round. The German eased past Ugo Carabelli 6-7(5) 6-1 7-5 to cement his place in Turin.
“Certainly [a good win]” said Zverev, who came into action just four days after his defeat in the Vienna championship match against Jannik Sinner in his post-match interview. “Especially after a tough match. [loss] last week. To come out here, and I didn’t expect him to play the way he did, to be completely honest.
“It’s something I have to learn from. I played against him in Rome and he was nowhere near that level. That’s a mistake on my part. I have to prepare better for my opponents, but he was fantastic today.”
Zverev leapfrogged Novak Djokovic to third place in the Race Rankings as a result of his two-hour, 36-minute victory against Ugo Carabelli. He had already qualified for the ATP Finals and will next face 15th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who defeated home wildcard Arthur Cazaux 7-6(5) 6-4.
Also now confirmed for Turin is Taylor Fritz in fifth place after the fourth-seeded American defeated Austrian qualifier Aleksander Vukic 7-6(4) 6-2.
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