Sinner reaches Paris quarters, on course for 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. “Good thing that I keep going here, maybe enjoying the matches even more than in Shanghai.”

The 40th-ranked Vacherot, who is from Monaco, beat Rinderknech again in the second round here in Paris, setting up a match against Norrie after the British player eliminated Alcaraz.

Vacherot had five aces and saved all five break points against Norrie, who dropped serve once.

Vacherot next faces ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, who rallied past Daniel Altmaier 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Victory maintained Auger-Aliassime’s chances of reaching the eight-man, season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.

Other matches Fourth-seeded American Taylor Fritz lost 7-6 (5), 6-2 to No. 13 seed Alexander Bublik; No. 6 Alex De Minaur won 6-2, 6-2 against 2018 champion Karen Khachanov; and 2020 champion Daniil Medvedev reached his 25th Masters quarterfinal with a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Lorenzo Sonego.

Race to Turin De Minaur qualified for the ATP Finals for the second consecutive season and Shelton for the first time, leaving one spot left.

Auger-Aliassime will leapfrog Lorenzo Musetti only if he reaches the final in Paris.