By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday November 1, 2024
Holger Rune and Karen Khachanov are rekindling old magic at this year's Paris Masters.
Photo Source: TTV
No seven-time champion Novak Djokovic.
No World No.1 Jannik Sinner.
No four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz. They are all not around this weekend in the city of light, for various reasons (only Alcaraz competed, and lost in the round of 16), and that leaves a few former champions, a home hope and a former finalist all feeling good about their chances.
2022 champion Holger Rune and 2018 conqueror Karen Khachanov eached move into the last four in Bercy on Friday, and they’ll be joined by 2020 finalist Alexander Zverev and home favorite Ugo Humbert, the No.15 seed.
Zverev is the highest seed remaining. He eased past Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his 20th Masters semifinal, something that only two other active players – Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal – have done.
“I do feel like this season is the first season again after about two, two-and-a-half years where I was a contender,” he said of his status in the post-Big Three tennis landscape.
Zverev will face Rune after the Dane edged Alex de Minaur in the best match of Friday’s four quarterfinals. He fought off a determined comeback effort from the Aussie and surged down the stretch to improve to 12-1 lifetime at the Paris Masters, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
The only player to ever defeat Rune at Bercy? None other than Novak Djokovic.
He was particularly pleased with his gritty attitude.
“If I stop, I'm not gonna win so I need to just push through it,” Rune said. “Even though today was obviously annoying losing the second set, but that's life. The only thing I can do is to reset and come back and push, because, you know, I know if I play my best tennis, I can beat anyone.”
Humbert upset Carlos Alcaraz in the most emotional moment of the tournament on Thursday and the 26-year-old Frenchman didn’t skip a beat as he got past Australia’s Jordan Thompson, 6-2, 7-6(4), to reach his maiden Masters 1000 semifinal and become the first Frenchman to play the last four in Bercy since Julien Benneteau in 2017.
He will face Khachanov, who obliterated a tired-looking Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-3. It was Khachanov’s first win in five career matches with the Bulgarian.