Vacherot through to Paris Masters quarterfinals after beating Norrie

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France Tennis Paris Masters

PARIS (AP) — There seems to be no stopping Valentin Vacherot, who reached another Masters quarterfinal by beating Cameron Norrie 7-6 (4), 6-4 in Paris on Thursday.

Already this month, Vacherot made a stunning run from the qualifiers to win the Shanghai Masters for his first career title. He downed 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and beat his own cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final.

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“I never expected it,” Vacherot said. “Good thing that I keep going here, maybe enjoying the matches even more than in Shanghai.”

The 40th-ranked Vacherot, who is from Monaco, beat Rinderknech again in the second round here in Paris, setting up a match against Norrie after the British player eliminated top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz.

Vacherot had five aces and saved all five break points against Norrie, who dropped serve once.

Vacherot next faces ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, who rallied past Daniel Altmaier 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Victory maintained Auger-Aliassime's chances of reaching the eight-man, season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.

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Fifth-seeded Ben Shelton beat 12th-seeded Andrey Rublev 7-6 (6), 6-3 to set up a potential quarterfinal with four-time Grand Slam champion Jannik Sinner.

Later Thursday, Sinner continued his bid to reclaim the No. 1 ranking when he faced Francisco Cerundolo. The unseeded Argentine had won two of their five career matches but lost their two previous meetings indoors.

Sinner will return to No. 1 if he wins the tournament.

Also, defending champion Alexander Zverev played Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and fourth-seeded Taylor Fritz was up against Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. ___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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