Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday overcame an upset stomach to beat Roberto Carballes Baena 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the Paris Masters to stay in contention for a spot at the season-ending ATP Finals.
Tsitsipas reached the Paris semi-finals in the previous two years and needs another deep run to have a chance of qualifying for the ATP Finals tournament for the top eight players in Turin, Italy, next month, but he said his stomach problem created a “second battle” in addition to his opponent.
“I couldn’t even pump myself up at the beginning of the match, because when something is bothering you that much, it takes your entire concentration and focus,” Tsitsipas said.
Photo: AFP
American Tommy Paul’s hopes of qualifying for Turin ended with a 6-3, 7-5 loss to French veteran Adrian Mannarino.
Earlier, local favorite Hugo Humbert needed more than two hours to beat the 35th-ranked Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Humbert, who saved two break points in the decider, extended his unbeaten record against Nakashima to 3-0. He next takes on another American, Marcos Giron, who defeated Shang Juncheng 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6).
Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor also advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Luciano Darderi — setting up a meeting with third seed Alexander Zverev — and Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina beat Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 7-6 (8/6). Etcheverry next faces Grigor Dimitrov.
Among those also progressing on Monday were Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, Arthur Rinderknech of France and Australian Jordan Thompson.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic is skipping the tournament this year. Jannik Sinner, who is guaranteed to finish the year at the No. 1 spot in the rankings, is the top seed in Paris.
Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Zverev and Daniil Medvedev have already secured their spot at the ATP Finals from Nov. 10 to 17.
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Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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