Seeds fell one after another at the Paris Masters on Wednesday, and by the evening session even Novak Djokovic had joined the casualty list. The seven-time Bercy champion lost a three-setter to Rinky Hijikata, who turned a 2-6 start into a 6-3, 6-3 finish. The man across the net was a 25-year-old Australian, ranked 83rd, who had only reached the main draw via qualifying.
The opening set gave no hint of what followed. Djokovic took it comfortably, and Hijikata had never won a set in their two previous meetings. The picture changed in the second, where the Australian did not face a single break point and finished with a love hold. In the decider Djokovic served at 3-5 to stay alive, started the game with back-to-back double faults and never recovered.
For the 39-year-old, who had his shoulder treated during a gritty win over Valentin Vacherot only 24 hours before, the loss also ends any chance of a 17th appearance at the ATP Finals. Turin hosts the eight-man finale in the middle of November, and the Serb will now watch it from afar.
Alexander Zverev went first. In his first outing as world number one, a ranking he only took over on Monday, the German was 5-2 up in the opening tie-break. Lorenzo Musetti then reeled off five straight points, pocketed the set and cruised through the second 6-2. The Italian admitted afterwards that the contest was “really close”. Zverev keeps the year-end top spot regardless.
Daniil Medvedev went out in straight sets against Ignacio Buse of Peru, while Alex de Minaur was beaten by Tomás Martín Etcheverry, and Frances Tiafoe let four match points slip against Quentin Halys, who won the final-set tie-break 11-9. That result guaranteed Arthur Fils a Turin debut, so France will have a player in the finale for the first time since Gaël Monfils made it in 2016. Hijikata meets Etcheverry next.
