Tommy Paul boosted his slim Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes on Monday on the Rolex Shanghai Masters, the place he defeated #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-4 to achieve the fourth spherical.
In a hard-fought conflict, the American recovered from squandering two match factors within the second-set tie-break, responding with constant baseline play within the deciding set to advance after two hours and 40 minutes.
Paul is at the moment eleventh within the Pepperstone ATP Reside Race To Turin on 2,525 factors, trailing eighth-placed Holger Rune by 585 factors. The 26-year-old is aiming to make his debut on the prestigious year-end occasion.
Paul has superior to at the least the fourth spherical in any respect hard-court ATP Masters 1000 occasions this season (Indian Wells, Miami, Toronto SFs, Cincinnati, Shanghai). He’ll goal to achieve his second Masters 1000 quarter-final of the 12 months when he takes on Andrey Rublev or Adrian Mannarino.
In different motion, Grigor Dimitrov reached the fourth spherical at a Masters 1000 for the primary time since Paris in 2022. The Bulgarian moved previous World No. 14 Karen Khachanov 7-6(6), 6-4 to earn his sixth Prime 20 win of the season.
The 18th seed saved one set level within the first set at 5/6 within the tie-break, earlier than successful 17 of his 19 first-serve factors within the second set to advance after one hour and 57 minutes.
Dimitrov now leads Khachanov 3-0 within the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Heads sequence and can subsequent face high seed Carlos Alcaraz or Daniel Evans.