PARIS, NOV 2: Alexander Zverev beat fierce rival Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Friday, while Holger Rune edged Alex de Minaur to keep alive his hopes of reaching the ATP Tour Finals.
Zverev's 7-5, 6-4 win over Tsitsipas kept him in the running to claim his first title in Paris after losing to Daniil Medvedev in the 2020 championship match.
World number three Zverev -- the highest-ranked player left in the draw -- will face 2022 champion Rune in Saturday's semi-final after the Dane overcame De Minaur 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
The 16th meeting between the 27-year-old German and 26-year-old Greek was evenly matched during a hard-fought first set.
"At the beginning, he was outplaying me but then I found my rhythm from the baseline," said Zverev on court.
"And when I had my chance I used it in the first set."
Indeed once Zverev broke late in the opener and early in the second, it became a comfortable ride to just his sixth win against his long-time Greek rival.
The loss ends the chances of the world number 11 Tsitsipas of reaching the end-of-year ATP Finals having won the showpiece event in 2019. —AFP
