Alex de Minaur’s determined chase for a place in the ATP finals in Turin next month has received a double tonic at the Paris Masters.
The Australian glided into the second round after hitting overdrive in the second set to sail past Mariano Navone, of Argentina, on Tuesday.
De Minaur, the No.9 seed, eased past Navone 7-5 6-1 in 89 minutes to advance to a meeting with Miomir Kecmanovic, Serbia’s lucky loser.
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That came after one of his main rivals for a berth at the end-of-season finale in Italy, Andrey Rublev, hit the self-destruct button against Francisco Cerundolo.
De Minaur’s stand-out season, during which he has won two ATP Tour titles and surged to a career-high of No.6 in the ATP Rankings, could yet culminate in a debut appearance at the season-ending finale.
The indoor event gathering the top eight players of the season will take place in Italy, from November 10-17.
The Australian, who is currently ninth in the ATP Live Race To Turin, has now closed to within 125 points of the eighth-placed Rublev. De Minaur will overtake the Russian with a run to the fourth round,
Fellow Aussie Alexei Popyrin also had a good day, downing Mario Berrettini 7-5 7-6 (7-2) to set up a tie with fourth seed Daniil Medvedev.
The sixth-seeded Rublev lost two tiebreakers and his temper as his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals took a big hit.
He eventually lost 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) in a match that lasted more than two hours.
Rublev was so frustrated at one point in the second set that he smashed his racket against his left knee at least seven times in succession. Video footage showed the outburst left his knee bleeding.
The ATP said that Taylor Fritz became the fifth player to qualify on Tuesday, making it to the season-ending tournament for the second time in the past three years.
Fritz joins Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev in the field.
Earlier on Tuesday, big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France hit 28 aces on his way to defeating Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.
Fresh from winning the title in Basel, Mpetshi Perricard also had 13 double-faults but never dropped his serve against the 14th-seeded American player.
Mpetshi Perricard converted his sole break point to win his first match at a Masters 1000 tournament.
The Frenchman, who started the year ranked 200th, rose to a career-high ranking of No.31 on Monday.
According to ATP statistics, Mpetshi Perricard has served 512 aces in just 27 matches this season.
He will play Karen Khachanov, who overcame Australia’s Christopher O’Connell 6-4 3-6 7-6 (8-6) in the second round.
On a good day for local players, Arthur Fils also progressed to the second round by edging Croatian Marin Cilic 7-6 (7-5) 6-4. He now meets Jan-Lennard Struff, who defeated Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 6-2.