The 2023 Paris Masters is about to reach its climax as the semi-final field is set, with Novak Djokovic, Andrey Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov, and Stefanos Tsitsipas being the four players remaining.
The Paris Masters 2023 odds still have Djokovic as the heavy favourite because he’s the winningest player in this tournament. But based on what we’ve witnessed so far in Bercy, this is not going to be a walk in the park for the top-ranked player in the world.
On the other hand, Carlos Alcaraz’s slump continues since he suffered yet another early exit, which may have cost him his best opportunity to cut into Djokovic’s unassailable lead in the ATP rankings.
Without further ado, check out the latest Paris Masters 2023 results in today’s SBOTOP recap.
Djokovic laser-focused on No. 7
Novak Djokovic caught everyone by surprise when he made his announcement to return to not only in singles but also in doubles action in Bercy.
With compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic as his teammate, Djokovic managed to qualify for the Round of 16 after they beat the pair of Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Gonzalo Escobar, 6-4, 6-2.
Djokovic and Kecmanovic were due to take on Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden next, but they pulled out at the last minute.
As it turns out, the grind of playing both in singles and doubles was too much for Djokovic to deal with given his advancing age, while Kecmanovic is seemingly struggling with a wrist issue, and he doesn’t want to make the injury worse with the Davis Cup Finals coming up.
With Djokovic withdrawing from doubles competition, his full focus is back on singles, and he has been solid so far in this tournament.
Djokovic commenced his singles journey with a straight-sets victory against Tomas Martin Etcheverry. The Serb worked harder than usual for his win against Tailon Griekspoor in the Round of 16 before gaining revenge against Holger Rune in a rematch of last year’s final during the quarter-finals.
Last year, Djokovic won the opening set before dropping the next two to Rune. There was a sense of déjà vu when Djokovic took the opener before dropping the second set yet again.
However, the Serb wasn’t going to be denied this time. In the penultimate set, Djokovic gained an early break, leaving Rune no opportunities to make a comeback, especially since he only committed one unforced error.
With his triumph that lasted for nearly three hours, Djokovic has improved to 2-2 in his head-to-head series against Rune and 31-1 on hard courts this season.
Rublev, Tsitsipas secure ATP Finals berths
Djokovic’s semis opponent is going to be Andrey Rublev, who rallied from a set down to defeat Alex de Minaur 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Prior to the quarter-finals, Rublev just became the fourth player this year to record 20 ATP Masters 1000 match wins when he defeated Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets.
Rublev is actually having a stellar campaign this season as he continues to break new ground. The Russian international has moved to fifth in the ATP rankings after winning the Monte-Carlo Masters and Swedish Open, while being a finalist in Dubai, Banja Luka, Halle, and Shanghai.
Because of his consistency, Rublev has qualified for the ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year.
Stefanos Tsitsipas has also qualified for the ATP Finals this year after picking up his 300th career match victory against Karen Khachanov in the Paris Masters quarter-finals.
This will be his fifth consecutive appearance in the year-end championships, and it can be noted that he won the coveted title in 2019, when he was still 21 years old.
The Greek international is going up against 17th seed Grigor Dimitrov next, who ousted the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Hurbert Hurkacz in the prior rounds.
Another disappointing run for Alcaraz
Alcaraz’s plans to end the year on a high note have faced another setback following his shocking loss to Roman Safiullin in straight sets, who is 43 notches below him, in the second round of the Paris Masters.
This is the first time that Alcaraz suffered a loss in his opening match of a tournament this year, and this makes it even harder for him to catch Djokovic atop the ATP rankings.
The second-seeded Spaniard was forced to withdraw in Switzerland due to injury, but it looked like his knock was not that serious.
He even practiced with Djokovic before the tournament, and he was poised to make a deep tournament run, but he was way off pace against his Russian counterpart despite having the benefit of a first-round bye.
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