Paris Masters: De Minaur upsets Medvedev to reach last 16

Australian Alex de Minaur upset world No 3 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 to reach the last 16 of the Rolex Paris Masters at the Accor Arena on Wednesday afternoon. This is the biggest upset in the tournament so far after Jannick Sinner’s elimination against Lorenzo Musetti (first round)

De Minaur, ranked No 25, will face American Frances Tiafoe, the No 16 seed, next.

This is De Minaur’s first win against a Top-10 opponent and first win against Medvedev in five matches. The only time De Minaur had beaten an opponent ranked in the top 10 at an ATP Masters tournament was Roberto Bautista Agut, also at the Paris Masters, in 2019. He was 0-18 against Top-5 opponents before the match.

Medvedev, three days after his second trophy this season in Vienna, double-faulted on match point and slammed his racquet into the court before shaking hands with the Australian.

Medvedev : “I had my chances to win the match. Didn’t use them”

“I was quite relaxed through the match,” De Minaur said. “It’s been a long year. I just wanted to give my all.”

Medvedev said De Minaur deserved the win but rued his own missed chances.

“I think he played pretty well,” the Russian stated. “I think even third set I had the break up, and he played amazing game on my serve where I served only first serves, and he made some winners. So he played well. Didn’t miss much.

“I guess did the right choice of shots many times. Actually, I think I had my chances to win the match. Didn’t use them. And he managed to keep enough pressure on me at the end of the match to win.”

Medvedev will drop to No 5 in the rankings, a year on from finishing as the runner-up in Paris. His best finish in any Masters 1000 this year was reaching the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters. He lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas (6-7, 6-3, 3-6).

The Russian has lost only one of his last six matches against opponents ranked outside the top 20 in an ATP
Masters 1000 tournament, against Nick Kyrgios at the Canada Masters earlier this year.

Paris Masters 1000, other second-round results (Accor Arena, EUR 5.415.410, most recent results first):

• Corentin Moutet vs. Cameron Norrie: wednesday in Paris
• Tommy Paul vs. Rafael Nadal: wednesday in Paris
• Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Denis Shapovalov: wednesday in Paris
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Holger Rune: wednesday in Paris
• Taylor Fritz vs. Gilles Simon: wednesday in Paris
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Fabio Fognini: wednesday in Paris
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Yoshihito Nishioka: wednesday in Paris
• Mikael Ymer vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime: wednesday in Paris
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (5) beat Daniel Evans: 6-3, 6-4
• Lorenzo Musetti beat Nikoloz Basilashvili: 6-4, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe beat Jack Draper: 6-3, 7-5
• Karen Khachanov beat Marc-Andrea Huesler (Q): 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
• Casper Ruud (3) beat Richard Gasquet (WC): 6-1, 7-6 (7)
• Novak Djokovic (6) beat Maxime Cressy: 7-6 (1), 6-4
• Andrey Rublev (7) beat John Isner: 6-2, 6-3

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