Jannik Sinner beat Ben Shelton 6-3 6-3 in the Paris Masters quarter-finals to continue his pursuit of returning to the top of the ATP rankings.
Sinner looked fatigued but battled through in straight sets to reach the last four in Paris for the first time and will play Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev on Saturday.
Carlos Alcaraz’s surprise defeat to Britain’s Cameron Norrie gives Sinner an opportunity to become world No 1 going into the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin on November 9-16, live on Sky Sports Tennis.
“I’m not thinking about the ranking. It’s all a consequence of how I’m playing,” said Sinner.
“We take it day by day. Every day we have difficult challenges. Today was a tough one, so I’m happy to come through.
“Whatever comes out, comes out. It’s been a long season with some great results and I never take that for granted. I’m happy to be in this situation and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
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Carlos Alcaraz and his coach, former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, where seen having a heated discussion during his defeat to Britain’s Cameron Norrie at the Paris Masters
Sinner bent down several times from early in the match with Shelton but it did not stop him from breaking in the fifth game with some sublime ball-striking.
The Italian broke again to clinch the opening set in 34 minutes, dropping just one point on his own serve and continued that dominance into the start of the next set with an early break.
However, Shelton showed some fight by breaking back to make it 3-3 but any hopes of a great comeback were short lived as Sinner won the next three games to secure a place in the semi-finals.
Jannik Sinner has beaten Ben Shelton seven times in a row
“I’m very happy. It was a tough match,” said Sinner.
“At times I didn’t have much control because of his incredible serving but I returned well and from the back of the court I was solid, and also very aggressive, so I’m very happy about the match.
“Tomorrow will be a physical match, so let’s see how I feel.”
Vacherot’s impressive run comes to an end
Felix Auger-Aliassime ended Valentin Vacherot’s impressive run at the Paris Masters with a 6-2 6-2 win in the quarter-finals.
Vacherot had won his previous 10 Masters matches – highlighted when he defeated his cousin Arthur Rinderknech to win his first title in Shanghai earlier this month – but Auger-Aliassime proved too strong for the Monegasque player as he advanced to his fourth Masters semi-final.
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Highlights of Felix Auger-Aliassime against Valentin Vacherot at the Paris Masters
Auger-Aliassime, who has reached 10 tour-level semi-finals this season, going on to win in Adelaide, Montpellier and Brussels, is hoping to at least make the final to try and qualify for the season-ending ATP Finals.
The 25-year-old will take on Alexander Bublik in Saturday’s first semi-final after the unpredictable Kazakhstan player came back to beat Australia’s Alex de Minaur 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 7-5.
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