PARIS – Alexander Zverev advanced to the semifinals of the Paris Masters with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday, eliminating the Greek in the ATP Finals.
The third-seeded German saved the only break point he faced.
French Open runner-up Zverev next faces 2022 champion Holger Luhn in his bid for the title. Zverev reached the Paris semifinals for the third time in the past four years but has never won a hardcourt tournament.
The first break point opportunity came in the 11th game when Tsitsipas struggled with his first serve. Zverev made the break 6-5 due to an unforced error.
Tsitsipas saved two set points but squandered his only break point opportunity with his 17th unforced error before Zverev closed out the set.
Zverev took control of the entire match, breaking again in the third game of the second set. He scored 12 straight points in his final three service games.
With this win, Zverev became the first player born in the 1990s to achieve 100 wins against top 20 players. Daniil Medvedev is 99 years old.
Tenth-seeded Tsitsipas, who has reached the ATP Finals for the fifth consecutive year, made 28 unforced errors in his 18 winners.
Rune beat Alex De Minaur 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in a primary battle that lasted two and a half hours. Rune improved to 3-2 against Australia.
Grigor Dimitrov’s hopes of reaching the ATP Finals were dashed when the 2023 finalist was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by first-time 2018 champion Karen Khachanov. Khachanov had lost his previous four matches.
Dimitrov finished 10th in the top eight ATP Finals race in Turin.
Khachanov improved to 12-1 over the last three weeks after winning the Almaty title and reaching the finals in Vienna.
He will face local hope Hugo Humbert, who beat Australia’s Jordan Thompson 6-2, 7-6(4) a day after stunning Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals.
Humbert has reached his first Masters semi-final, and he is the first Frenchman to reach this point in Paris in seven years.
