Paris Masters: Jannik Sinner keeps his quest for World No. 1 alive, to face Alexander Zverev in semis

Jannik Sinner advanced to the Paris Masters semi-finals with a commanding 6-3, 6-3 victory over Ben Shelton on Friday, maintaining his pursuit of the World No. 1 ranking. The Italian's win sets up a clash with defending champion Alexander Zverev, who overcame Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling three-set match.Sinner extended his impressive indoor hard court winning streak to 24 matches and could overtake Carlos Alcaraz for the top ranking by winning the tournament at La Defense Arena."At the moment I'm not thinking about the ranking. It all depends on how I'm playing. We go day by day, every day you have very difficult challenges coming up," Sinner said.The 24-year-old Italian has now won seven consecutive matches against Shelton since their first encounter in Shanghai in 2023.Sinner, who claimed the Vienna Open last weekend, is pursuing his fifth title of the year, having already secured victories at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and China Open.
"I'm happy to be in the situation where I am, tomorrow it's again a very important day but I'm looking forward to it," Sinner added.The four-time Grand Slam champion dominated the first set in 34 minutes, breaking Shelton's serve twice. He continued his momentum in the second set, taking a 3-1 lead.

Shelton briefly rallied, breaking back to love and levelling the set, but Sinner regained control with another break in the eighth game.Zverev's title defence remained intact after a hard-fought 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) victory over Medvedev, ending a five-match losing streak against the Russian.In other quarter-final action, Alexander Bublik reached his first Masters 1000 semi-final by defeating Alex de Minaur 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-5."That's definitely an important match but not probably the most important of my life. You never know. We'll see," Bublik remarked about his upcoming semi-final against Felix Auger-Aliassime.Auger-Aliassime secured his spot in the semi-finals with a convincing 6-2, 6-2 win over Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot."He (Vacherot) is so confident and you are kind of scared to be honest. I had to be so focused from the start and this level of intensity from the first game I brought helped ease me into the match and I played some good tennis," Auger-Aliassime said.Bublik, Auger-Aliassime, and Lorenzo Musetti remain in contention for the final spot at next month's ATP Finals in Turin, with Bublik likely to be considered as an alternate.