Fritz beats Fils to set up Alcaraz clash in Paris as Shelton, Paul and Van Assche reach quarter-finals

Taylor Fritz beat Arthur Fils 6-3 6-4 in the round of 16 at the Paris Masters on Thursday, 5 November, keeping his hopes of a place at the ATP Finals alive and setting up a quarter-final with Carlos Alcaraz. Fellow Americans Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul also won, as did Luca Van Assche, Casper Ruud, lucky loser Nuno Borges and qualifier Rinky Hijikata.

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Fritz too strong for Fils

The 11th seed needed only an hour and 11 minutes on Court Central against the sixth seed, who had qualified for Turin the day before. Fritz never faced a break point, hit 14 aces and won 11 of his 12 second-serve points, according to Tennis Majors. One break in each set was enough. The ATP said it was his 100th Masters 1000 match win and his 13th indoor win of the season, the most on tour.

"I was returning really well and serving really well," Fritz told the ATP. Fils, who had retired against the American in the Basel quarter-finals a week earlier, ruled out any physical problem. "He just played better than me," the Frenchman said, as reported by Tennis Majors.

Alcaraz did not have to play. Matteo Berrettini withdrew injured before their third-round match, the ATP reported, without giving details. The second seed, who won the Vienna title last week, leads Fritz 6-1 in their head-to-head and is still looking for his first Paris semi-final.

What it means for Turin

Two places remain for the ATP Finals, which begin on 15 November. Frances Tiafoe is eighth and Rafael Jodar ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race, and both are already out of the Paris draw. Had Fils won, Tiafoe would have qualified on Thursday night.

Fritz is 11th, 184 points behind Jodar. Tennis Majors calculates that a semi-final would take him past the Spaniard and a final past Tiafoe, so beating Alcaraz is the minimum. Paul, 309 points behind Jodar according to the ATP, has even less margin: he needs to reach the final. As we reported on Wednesday, Novak Djokovic is already out of contention.

Shelton and Paul set up an all-American quarter-final

Shelton, the third seed and already qualified for Turin, lost the first set to Arthur Rinderknech in 27 minutes. He levelled with a late break in the second, and neither man dropped serve in the third. Rinderknech led 4-2 in the deciding tie-break, but Shelton won five of the last six points to close out a two-hour, five-minute match. It was his 43rd win of 2026, a personal best for a season.

"There was kind of a calmness about me in those final moments," Shelton told Tennis Channel, as quoted by Tennis Majors. Paul earlier beat Halys 7-6(3) 6-4 to end French interest in that section. The head-to-head is level at 2-2, and Shelton expects "fireworks", he told the ATP, according to Ubitennis. Their match opens Friday's quarter-final programme.

Van Assche and Borges make history

Van Assche, ranked 47th, beat Lorenzo Musetti 7-5 3-6 6-4 to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final, two weeks after losing to the Italian in a three-and-a-half-hour match in Lyon. "It was a childhood dream to play on a Court Central like this," he told the crowd, Tennis Majors reported. He meets Hijikata, who followed his win over Djokovic by beating Tomas Martin Etcheverry 2-6 6-3 7-5.

Borges, who lost in the final round of qualifying, thrashed Ignacio Buse 6-0 6-2 in 71 minutes. The Portuguese is the first lucky loser to reach the quarter-finals in the tournament's history, and he had lost all six of his previous Masters 1000 last-16 matches. He plays Ruud, who beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3 6-3 in 63 minutes without facing a break point. Borges won their most recent meeting, in Basel last month, and the pair have split four matches on tour.