(Tennis news) Hugo Gaston made every shot count against Carlos Alcaraz Garfia in a match of the tournament so far at Paris. The Frenchmen was making his debut in the main draw this year as he pulled off an unbelievable comeback in the fourth round, Alcaraz was on the way to win the second set as he opened up a 5-0 lead but things went in a downward spiral aftermath. Gaston won 20 of the next 21 points to level up and then went on to win the match giving the home crowd what it wanted. The qualifier will next face Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals, Gaston defeated Carlos 6-4, 7-5.

“The atmosphere was incredible”, Gaston said. “Honestly, I have been playing tennis for this. It was actually incredible. It was really wonderful to live this match with them. I actually won because they supported me from beginning to the end even when I had a letdown during the first or the second set, they were always cheering me. It's incredible to have such a great public.”

Casper Ruud qualified for the Nitto ATP finals with an emphatic victory over Marcos Giron in the fourth round of the Paris Masters. Ruud has become the seventh player this year to qualify as there is one more position left for the season finale, Ruud won five consecutive games in the second set to secure the match in an hour and will face Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. There is one more spot left in the ATP finals as Hubert Hurkacz needs to win his quarterfinal matchup against James Duckworth to qualify for the event. Ruud will be making his debut at the season ending event this year, Ruud defeated Giron 6-2, 6-1. 

"It's been an unbelievable year that will have the perfect end to the season," said Ruud. "It's been a stressful couple of weeks and months, because it’s been such a tight FedEx ATP Race to Turin. It’s been fun at the same time and so exciting to watch as a tennis fan."

Alexander Zverev recorded a third consecutive win over Grigor Dimitrov as the pair met five years after their previous meeting at Rome. Zverev took the first set in a tight tie breaker and had two match points in the second set which Dimitrov saved on his way to level the score. In the final set Zverev saved three break points in the sixth game which involved a quick backhand volley at the net to deny Dimitrov a 4-2 lead. To make things worse for the Bulgarian, Zverev broke him in the very next game and went to win the dramatic encounter. Zverev defeated Dimitrov 7-6(7-4), 7-6(3-7), 6-3.

Taylor Fritz struck a huge blow to Cameron Norrie’s hopes of qualifying for the year end finals with a straight victory. Fritz had defeated Andrey Rublev in the previous round and now beat the left hander to proceed to his second consecutive quarter final at a Masters 1000 event. Fritz wrapped up the first set in no time as Norrie battled hard to take the second one as he also had two set points which Fritz saved and went on to win the set in a tie breaker. Fritz defeated Norrie 6-3, 7-6(7-3).

In men’s doubles, the top two seeds tumbled at Paris as Joran Vliegen and Sander Gillé tasted sweet revenge when they defeated top seeds Mate Pavić and Nikola Mektić 6-3, 7-6(8-6).

Michael Venus and Tim Pütz staged the second shocking win of the day as they defeated second seeded Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in a marathon two set tie breaker. Venus and Tim defeated Rajeev and Joe 7-6(14-12), 7-6(8-6).

Also read: Novak Djokovic starts off with a victory at Paris, Gael Monfils steals the show in opening round