PARIS: Frenchman Gael Monfils withdrew hours before his match against Novak Djokovic in the Paris Masters on Thursday due to an adductor strain, sending the Serbian world number one into the quarter-finals.

After his second-round win over compatriot Adrian Mannarino, Monfils said he got injured during the match and an ultrasound revealed a muscular lesion.

“I have the impression that to be optimistic, in about 10 days I will be at 100%, but because of muscular lesion, you just need rest,” Monfils told reporters, confirming that it was the end to his 2021 season.

Djokovic, playing his first tournament since finishing runner-up in the US Open, will take on American Taylor Fritz in the last eight.

The unseeded American beat 10th-seeded Cameron Norrie 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) to hurt the British player’s chances of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals.

World number two Daniil Medvedev and world number four Alexander Zverev had to pull out all the stops to reach the last eight.

Medvedev needed three sets to see off Sebastian Korda of the United States 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. The US Open champion will play Frenchman Hugo Gaston, who stormed back from a 0-5 second set deficit to beat Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, 7-5 and reach the quarter-finals.

Zverev advanced after beating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (3-7), 6-3 in an intense contest lasting two hours, 45 minutes and where Dimitrov saved two match points in the second set. Zverev next plays sixth-seeded Casper Ruud, who routed American qualifier Marcos Giron 6-2, 6-1 to seal his place in the ATP Finals in Turin.

Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz also booked his place in the quarter-finals with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over German Dominik Koepfer, improving his chances of qualifying for the Nov 14-21 ATP Finals.

The tournament is played between the top eight men’s singles players and doubles teams. Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Medvedev, Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Matteo Berrettini and Ruud have qualified for the event with one spot yet to be confirmed.

Hurkacz sits in the final automatic qualification place and can seal his berth with victory over Australian James Duckworth, an unseeded Australian who advanced to his first Masters quarter-final with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 victory over Alexei Popyrin.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2021