Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev reached the quarterfinals of the Rolex Paris Masters tournament

One of the quarterfinalists of the Rolex Paris Masters, an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournament in the Masters 1000 category with a prize fund of €5.8 million, was its 2018 winner, Russian Karen Khachanov, who broke the resistance of Roman Safiullin in three games. If he performs well this week in the French capital, Khachanov, who occupies 15th place in the world rankings, can hope for a place in the top ten at the end of the year. Andrey Rublev also reached the quarterfinals, beating the Dutchman Botik van de Zandshulp in two sets.

After Karen Khachanov missed almost the entire summer, including Wimbledon, due to a complex sacral injury, it seemed that his chances of finishing in the top ten at the end of the year, despite the high results of the first half of the season, were reduced to a minimum. These chances are not very great even now, although all is not lost. Moreover, a situation unexpectedly developed in which much, if not all, depends on Khachanov himself. More precisely, on how he will play in the next three days in the French capital at the Rolex Paris Masters, and next week in Metz at the Moselle Open, one of the two final tournaments of the 250 category this year.

According to points scored since January, Khachanov was in 15th place before the start of the Paris Masters. However, for now he can count on more.

After two confident victories over Australian Max Purcell and Serbian Laslo Djere, the Russian in the 1/8 finals beat his compatriot Roman Safiullin, who, having made his way into the main draw through qualification, sensationally defeated the second racket of the world, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, in the second round. The level of Safiullin’s tennis is now very high, and it is not surprising that, having taken the first set, he offered decent resistance to Khachanov in the second game. However, he showed enviable persistence, won in about two hours – 4:6, 6:4, 6:2 and reached the quarterfinals. While several tennis players who are currently slightly higher in the world classification – Norwegian Casper Ruud, as well as Americans Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Francis Tiafoe – failed to do this.

Thus, in the so-called live rating, which reflects the situation on a specific day, taking into account the points scored in the current tournament, Khachanov with 2475 points has already surpassed Tiafoe and is in 14th place. Ahead are Paul (2665 points), Australian Alex de Minaur (2740), who reached the 1/4 finals, Ruud (2825), Fritz (3100), who closes the top ten, and another quarter-finalist Hubert Hurkacz (3155), who is ninth. By reaching the semifinals, the Russian automatically adds 180 points to his current total, by the final – 420, and by the title – 820.

That is, if he repeats his Parisian triumph of 2018, when he defeated Novak Djokovic in the decisive match, Khachanov can still compete even for a place in the top 8, that is, for one of the tickets to the Nitto ATP Finals – the final tournament of the year, which begins in Turin November 12.

Solving such a problem will be extremely difficult. Although the current quality of his play allows us to hope for this.

At the moment, six have reached Turin – Serbian Novak Djokovic, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, Italian Jannik Sinner, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, and two more tickets, which are primarily claimed by Alexander Zverev from Germany, who lost to Tsitsipas by 1 /8 finals, and the Dane Holger Rune, remain vacant. A detail that can become fundamental: theoretically, the selection for Turin does not end with the Paris “masters”. If necessary, it will be carried out taking into account the tournaments in Metz and Sofia, which will take place next week. True, first we still have to wait for the main events in Paris. On Friday, in the quarterfinals, Khachanov will meet with Tsitsipas, whom, after six defeats in a row, he defeated for the first time in his career in early April in Miami, and Andrei Rublev, who beat the Dutchman Botik van de Zandshulp in 64 minutes on Thursday – 6:3, 6:3, will play with Alex de Minaur.

As for Daniil Medvedev, he apparently did not have time to fully recover after the difficult Vienna final against Sinner, on Wednesday in his first match conceded to the in-form Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. However, there is nothing wrong with that. Now the third racket of the world has the opportunity to take a break before Turin, which, quite possibly, will be very useful for him.

Evgeniy Fedyakov