Tsitsipas seals quarterfinals belt in Paris, resurrect Turin hopes

Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday kept his hopes of qualifying for the year-end ATP finals in Turin after a hard fought comeback victory in the round of 16 at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The 26-year-old Greek dug deep for a 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2 triumph against Francisco Cerundolo to advance to his fourth quarter-final in Paris.

With the victory, Tsitsipas climbed to 11th in the ATP Live Race To Turin, but he will need a run to the final to stay in contention.

The former World No. 3 Tsitsipas, crossed the line and progressed to the last eight after a two hours, 21 minutes battle.

It was Tsitsipas’ second ever victory over Cerundolo in as many weeks after he defeated the Argentine in their first-round clash in Basel.

Despite creating three break points in the first set, Cerundolo, who won his 100th tour-level match on Tuesday, was unable to convert them, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He did, however, pull ahead with a steely tie-break.

Tsitsipas will face either third seed Alexander Zverev or home star Arthur Fils in the last eight at the indoor ATP Masters 1000.

Jordan Thompson advanced to his first quarterfinal at an ATP Masters 1000 earlier, defeating wild card Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 7-6(5). The Australian reached a career-high No. 26 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings with his two-hour, 20-minute victory.

“It’s what we’ve been working towards, these big results at big tournaments,” said Thompson. “It got a little bit squeaky at the end there, but I did well to turn it around. I found some of my best points and managed to sneak out of the tie-break.”

Thompson clinched the win with four straight points from 3/5 in the tie-break and saved two set points in the 12th game of the second set. For a position in the final four, the 30-year-old will compete against either World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz or home favorite Ugo Humbert.

Also, 2018 champion Karen Khachanov improved to 11-1 in the last 12 matches, beating Alexei Popyrin 7-6(5), 6-4 to reach the quarter finals in Paris-Bercy.

Khachanov, who was Champion in Almaty, a finalist in Vienna and now quarterfinalist in Paris, awaits the winner between Grigor Dimitrov and Arthur Rinderknech who play later tonight for a place in the last four.