Alex de Minaur, Jordan Thompson make dream starts at Paris Masters

Alex de Minaur’s determined chase for a place in the ATP finals in Turin next month has received a double tonic at the Paris Masters.

The Australian glided into the second round after hitting overdrive in the second set to sail past Argentine Mariano Navone on Wednesday (AEDT).

De Minaur, the No.9 seed, eased past Navone 7-5 6-1 in 89 minutes to advance to a meeting with Miomir Kecmanovic, Serbia’s lucky loser.

Fellow Aussies Jordan Thompson and Alexei Popyrin also recorded outstanding results.

World No.28 Thompson defeated eighth-ranked Norwegian Casper Ruud 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-4, while Popyrin downed Italian Mario Berrettini 7-5 7-6 (7-2) to set up a tie with fourth seed Daniil Medvedev.

De Minaur’s stand-out season, during which he has won two ATP Tour titles and surged to a career-high No.6 in the rankings, could yet culminate in a debut appearance at the season-ending finale.

The indoor event gathering the top eight players of the season will take place in Italy, from November 10-17.

De Minaur, who is currently ninth in the ATP Live Race To Turin, has now closed to within 125 points of the eighth-placed Andrey Rublev and will overtake the Russian with a run to the fourth round.

Rublev lost two tiebreakers and his temper as hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals took a big hit.

The sixth seed went down 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) to Francisco Cerundolo and was so frustrated at one point that he smashed his racket against his left knee at least seven times in succession and drew blood.

The ATP said that Taylor Fritz became the fifth player to qualify, making it to the season-ending tournament for the second time in the past three years.

Fritz joins Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev in the field.

Second-seeded Spaniard Alcaraz overcame some rusty moments in the French capital to beat Nicolas Jarry 7-5 6-1.

“He’s a really dangerous player on these courts,” 21-year-old Alcaraz said.

“I’m super happy to win here ... It’s been a great year so far.”

The four-time grand slam champion is looking for his fifth title of the year and next plays either 15th-seeded Ugo Humbert or Marcos Giron.

No.10 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Alejandro Tabilo 6-3 6-4 to stay in contention for Turin.

Earlier in the day, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard hit 28 aces on his way to defeating Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.

Fresh from winning the title in Basel, Mpetshi Perricard converted his sole break point to win his first match Masters 1000 match.

The Frenchman, who started the year ranked 200th, rose to a career-high ranking of No.31 on Monday.

He will play Karen Khachanov, who overcame Australia’s Christopher O’Connell 6-4 3-6 7-6 (8-6) in the second round.

Other winners included Jack Draper, Ben Shelton, Holger Rune, Arthur Fils and Jan-Lennard Struff.

With AAP.