Second round: Berrettini and Borges break new ground
Neither the Italian nor the Portuguese had ever won a match at the Rolex Paris Masters before this edition. Now, both are through to the round of 16.
Borges gets his revenge
On Sunday evening, Nuno Borges was on the verge of packing his bags. On Thursday morning, he will step onto court with the ambition of reaching a first Masters 1000 quarterfinal.
Beaten by Alex Molcan in the second round of qualifying, Borges had little trouble overcoming Karen Khachanov, against whom he had never previously won (6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour and 39 minutes).
Impeccable on serve, the Portuguese hit 11 aces, won 85% of points behind his first serve and did not face a single break point against an out-of-sorts 2018 champion. It was an almost flawless performance from Borges, who claimed his second consecutive win in Paris.
Having never previously made it past the first round here, he will now face Ignacio Buse for a place in the quarterfinals.
Like Borges, Matteo Berrettini had never won a match in Paris before this edition, until his nail-biting victory over Brandon Nakashima. The Italian followed it up by getting the better of home favourite Ugo Humbert.
The two players were evenly matched throughout the opening set, but two double faults from the Frenchman proved costly in the tie-break. Trailing 4-1 in the second set, the 2024 runner-up fought back, closing the gap to 5-3 and then 5-4 as his opponent served for the match. However, he eventually fell at the crucial moment (7-6(3), 7-5 in 1 hour and 46 minutes).
The Italian has therefore already secured his best-ever result at the Paris Masters 1000.
A little earlier in the evening, Alex Molcan and Taylor Fritz (No.11) produced the longest battle of the day on the courts of the Plenitude Arena (6-7(6), 7-5, 7-6(5) in 2 hours and 30 minutes). The Slovak qualifier took the opening set in a tie-break after a series of lengthy rallies, with neither player managing to break serve.
The American remained patient, waiting until 5-5 in the second set to finally find a way through on his opponent’s serve. The decider proved just as tight, with Fritz relying heavily on his serve, firing an impressive 37 aces in total, before earning a match point that was converted on a double fault from Molcan, who nevertheless leaves Paris having achieved his best result at the tournament.
Meanwhile, the current world No.12 remains in contention for the ATP Finals. He sits 11th in the Race, 220 points behind Alex de Minaur, who was eliminated earlier on Wednesday.
Finally, Jan-Lennard Struff, competing as a special exempt, brought the day session to a dramatic close against lucky loser Thiago Agustin Tirante, prevailing 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(3 after 2 hours and 22 minutes.