Novak Djokovic received treatment for his shoulder and trailed by a set and a break before turning his Paris Masters opener around against Valentin Vacherot. The 39-year-old won 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-1 in approximately two hours and 35 minutes, becoming the oldest man to win a match at the tournament, Reuters reported. The victory on 3 November was Djokovic’s first over Vacherot and ended the Monegasque’s five-match winning streak.
Djokovic dug in as Vacherot, buoyed by his Swiss Indoors title in Basel on 1 November, began to falter. The Basel title was Vacherot’s first ATP 500 crown, and he arrived in Paris straight after that run. Djokovic cut down his unforced errors and made the Monegasque work through long exchanges. After taking the first set, Vacherot moved a break ahead in the second, but Djokovic levelled the match by winning the set 7-5 before taking the decider 6-1. The Serbian, a record seven-time Paris champion, was still below his best, but the result kept his ATP Finals qualification bid alive.
“Not the freshest out there after two and a half hours but I am glad to turned this match around,” Djokovic told Sky Sports. He also said Vacherot had “a lot of confidence” after winning in Basel, adding: “His third serve is quicker than my first so it is very difficult. You try and find a way.”
The qualification picture
At the time of the match, Djokovic was 11th in the Race to Turin with 2,940 points. Rafael Jodar held ninth place with 3,234, leaving Djokovic 294 points behind the provisional qualifying position. With Jannik Sinner unavailable for the rest of the season, the reported cutoff was the top nine rather than the usual top eight. Sky Sports said Djokovic needed at least a semi-final run in Paris to give himself a chance of qualifying. Results involving Jodar, Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fils, Frances Tiafoe and Alex de Minaur also shaped the race.
Djokovic, seeded 10th, did not receive a first-round bye; only the top eight seeds were exempt from the opening round. He had missed the ATP Finals in the previous two seasons because of injury, and his last absence on merit had come in 2017. In Paris, he was due to face Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata in the second round. Hijikata reached that stage by beating Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-2, with a possible third-round meeting against De Minaur ahead.
Elsewhere, Quentin Halys beat Britain’s Arthur Fery 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 after saving two set points in the opening-set tie-break. Halys then saved two break points early in the second set before breaking Fery and serving out the match with an ace. He was set to face seventh seed Frances Tiafoe, who had a first-round bye. Cameron Norrie later lost 6-3, 6-4 to third seed Ben Shelton, ending British interest in the singles.
