PARIS (Reuters) – Stefanos Tsitsipas maintained his stunning form at the Paris Masters with a 6-3 6-4 defeat of Russia’s Karen Khachanov to reach the semi-finals on Friday.
The Greek, who a day earlier secured his place as one of the eight qualifiers for the ATP Finals in Turin, was at his shot-making best to dominate the contest.
He will now face Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the final after the Bulgarian beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-1 4-6 6-4.
Seventh seed Tsitsipas is yet to drop a set this week in disposing of Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, Germany’s Alexander Zverev and now Khachanov.
He had far too much variety for Khachanov in the opening set, using his all-court game and accurate serving to great effect. He then moved a break ahead in the second set before Khachanov hit a brief purple patch to get back on terms.
But Tsitsipas quickly regained control to sweep to the 300th professional win of his career, bringing up match point with a delightful drop shot that had the crowd in raptures.
“It’s working well. It feels good to have so much variety and so much diversity in the way you can play,” he said.
“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.”
Hurkacz’s defeat by Dimitrov ended his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals.
Later on Friday top seed Novak Djokovic takes on Denmark’s Holger Rune who is also trying to book his place in the year-ending showpiece in Turin.
The day will conclude with Australia’s Alex de Minaur against Russian Andrey Rublev.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
