Djokovic battles back to advance in Paris

PARIS: World number one Novak Djokovic fought back to beat Tallon Griekspoor 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 on Thursday and reach the Paris Masters quarter-finals.

The Serb, unlike in his slick second-round win, looked rusty in only his second singles match since playing in the Davis Cup six weeks ago, losing a 4-1 lead in the first set and squandering three break opportunities early in the second.

The 24-times Grand Slam winner mounted a comeback, however, as he convincingly won the tiebreak and took the decider to continue his quest for a record-extending seventh title in Paris.

“I run out of steam, I’ve been struggling the last couple of days with my stomach, I didn’t feel myself at all on court,” the 36-year-old Djokovic said. “It could’ve run easily on his way, but I played a good tiebreak and started to feel better on the third. I’m really happy I overcame this challenge.”

The 36-year-old moves on to face Holger Rune in the quarter-finals, after the Danish sixth seed brushed aside German Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-3. Rune beat Djokovic in last year’s final in Paris.

Fourth seed Jannik Sinner withdrew from the tournament, citing health reasons after his second-round clash against Mackenzie McDonald ended at 2:37 am on Thursday.

Sinner arrived in Paris from Vienna where he won the title on Sunday in a final against Daniil Medvedev that lasted more than three hours.

The Italian was due to play Australia’s Alex de Minaur, who will now face in-form Andrey Rublev, the fifth-seed Russian who earned his 20th Masters 1000 win of the season by beating qualifier Botic Van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-3.

Seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the quarter-finals and also locked up his place in the season-ending eight-man ATP Finals as he beat German 10th seed Alexander Zverev 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.

Tsitsipas became the sixth player officially qualified for the November 12-19 event in Turin after his first win this season in eight matches against top-10 players.

The Greek will play Karen Khac­h­a­nov in the quarter-finals after the 16th seed beat fellow Russian Roman Safiullin 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, the 11th seed, remained in contention for a spot at the tournament in Turin by beating Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-4 6-3.

He will meet Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the semi-finals after the Bulgarian opened the day’s action by racing to a straightforward 6-2, 6-2 victory over Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.