PARIS (Reuters) - World number one Novak Djokovic stayed on course for a seventh Paris Masters title by beating Holger Rune in the quarterfinals, with the Dane still qualifying for a spot at the ATP Tour Finals after Andrey Rublev beat Alex de Minaur.
Djokovic was rock solid as he avenged his defeat by the tenacious youngster in last year’s showpiece to win 7-5 6-7(3) 6-4 and set up a semi-final against Russian fifth seed Rublev, who beat Australian De Minaur 4-6 6-3 6-1.
Victory for 20-year-old Rune would have sealed his place in Turin but he will still make his debut in the year-ender featuring the world’s top eight players as De Minaur had to win the title to deny the Dane a place at the elite event.
Djokovic’s victory means Germany’s Alexander Zverev also qualifies for the ATP Tour Finals.
Rune delighted the Paris crowd with some stunning tennis and saved a match point at 4-5 in the second set before an inspired tiebreak took the match to a decider.
But Djokovic was unfazed and broke serve early in the third set, while Rune was not helped by a cut to his hand that required some lengthy patching up at a changeover.
The sixth seed could make no impression on the Djokovic serve in the decider as the top-ranked Serb clocked up a 16th successive win since losing in the Wimbledon final.
“It was quite a similar match to last year’s final, it was anybody’s game in every set.” Djokovic said.
Earlier in Bercy, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas maintained his stunning form with a 6-3 6-4 defeat of Russia’s Karen Khachanov to set up a semi-final against Grigor Dimitrov.