Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece picked up his 300th career match victory by beating Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Rolex Paris Masters Friday in France.
Tsitsipas, the seventh seed, reached the milestone one day after securing his berth in the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.
Tsitsipas had a 25-15 edge in winners, won 26 of 33 first-service points (78.8 percent) and converted all three of his opportunities to break Khachanov’s serve.
“I feel like I can mix up play,” Tsitsipas said. “It feels good to have so much variety and so much diversity in the way you can play. I take that as an opportunity to keep growing my game and keep looking forward at the many more matches to come and appreciate each moment that comes my way.”
He will be joined in the semifinals by No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia and unseeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Tsitsipas will face Dimitrov, who knocked out 11th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Dimitrov withstood Hurkacz’s 19 aces and converted all three of his break-point chances.
Dimitrov’s path to the semifinals also included a three-set upset of No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia.
“My body is feeling well for now, that’s the most important thing,” Dimitrov said. “My head is good. If I’m able to play like that on a consistent basis throughout every game, I put myself in a position to do better.”
The result meant Hurkacz failed to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. Instead, Alexander Zverev of Germany and Holger Rune of Denmark received the final two berths Friday, joining Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, Medvedev, Jannik Sinner of Italy, Rublev and Tsitsipas.
Djokovic beat the sixth-seeded Rune 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4 in a rematch of last year’s Paris Masters finals. Rune won last year and had a 2-1 edge on the Serbian great entering Friday.
“It was quite a similar match to last year’s final, it was anybody’s game in every set,” Djokovic said. “I played an awful tie-break in the second set, probably the worst one this year. But again, credit to him for staying mentally tough and playing solid. We have similar games. Move well, defend well and all-round players.”
In the semis, Djokovic will face Rublev, who rallied to oust No. 13 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
–Field Level Media