Sinner reaches Paris Masters quarterfinals and stays on course to reclaim the No. 1 ranking
PARIS: Jannik Sinner beat Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 in the third round of the Paris Masters on Thursday to extend his indoor winning streak to 23 matches and maintain his chances of reclaiming the No. 1 ranking.
The four-time Grand Slam champion needs to win the tournament to take the top spot from Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner’s quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be Ben Shelton.
The fifth-seeded American beat 12th-seeded Andrey Rublev 7-6 (6), 6-3 to secure his place in the eight-man, season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
Sinner is chasing a fifth title of the year and 23rd overall. He won an ATP 500 tournament in Vienna last Sunday despite having cramps.
“Hopefully, I can recover physically, which is my main priority” Sinner said ahead of his eighth match against Shelton.
“Today was a great match and a great performance from my side.”
He leads Shelton 6-1 overall.
Later Thursday, defending champion Alexander Zverev played Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Vacherot keeps going
There seems to be no stopping Valentin Vacherot, who reached another Masters quarterfinal by beating Cameron Norrie 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Already this month, Vacherot made a stunning run from the qualifiers to win the Shanghai Masters for his first career title. He downed 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and beat his own cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final.
“I never expected it,” Vacherot said.


