PARIS: Reigning Paris Masters champion Novak Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in a three-set epic on Saturday to set up a title clash with Holger Rune, who reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final after a comfortable win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Djokovic won his eighth straight match against Tsitsipas but needed more than two hours to seal a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) victory, keeping alive a 13-match unbeaten run as well as his hopes of clinching a seventh title in Paris.

In a battle between two of the Tour’s most in-form players, world number 18 Rune convincingly ended eighth seed Auger-Aliassime’s 16-match winning run in a 6-4, 6-2 victory and earned his fourth top-10 scalp in as many days.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2022