This year’s Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul beat French Next Gen player Arthur Fils 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 to reach the fourth round at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Paul earned his first break in the opening game at 30 to win the first set 6-4. The match was suspended at 2-2 in the second set due to rain. The US player squandered two match points at 6-5 and 7-6 in the tie-break of the second set. Fils won two consecutive points with a backhand passing shot and a service winner to claim the tie-break 9-7. Fils started the third set with an early break in the first game of the third set. Paul broke straight back in the second game to draw level to 1-1.
Paul won three consecutive points from 15-30 down to seal the third set 6-4 with a second break in the 10th game after three unforced errors from Fils after 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Paul is currently ranked 11th in the ATP Live Race to Turin on 2525 points. He trails 585 points behind eighth placed Holger Rune.
Paul has reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and in Toronto and at least the fourth round at Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells, Miami, Cincinnati and Shanghai).
Paul will face either Andrey Rublev or Adrian Mannarino. He is is aiming to reach his second Masters 1000 quarter final of the 2023 season.
Grigor Dimitrov edged past Karen Khachanov 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 to clinch his sixth top 20 win of the 2023 season. The Bulgarian player has reached the fourth round at a Masters 1000 tournament since Paris Bercy 2022.
The first set went on serve en route to the tie-break. Dimitrov earned an early mini-break twice, but Khachanov pulled back both times to draw level to 4-4- Dimitrov fended off one set point at 5-6 before winning three consecutive points to win the tie-break 8-6. Dimitrov won 17 of his 19 first serve point and earned the first break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. The 2017 ATP Finals champion held his next service games to seal the win on his first match point.
Dimitrov leads 3-0 in his head-to-head series against Khachanov. He will face either Carlos Alcaraz or Daniel Evans.
“I think the first set was very close on both ends. I think I had the edge early on and in the match. I thought I was controlling a lot but somehow I was coming back. Great serves, great movement, great shots, but I had to stay focused and that was the most important thing. When I had opportunities to be more aggressive, I had to do it”, said Dimitrov.
