Paris, Oct 29 (IANS) Taylor Fritz stayed ahead of the chasing pack of ATP Finals contenders at the Paris Masters with a win over Australian Aleksandar Vukic.

Fritz moved smoothly past Vukic 7-6(4), 6-2 and never really looked to be troubled. Last year’s US Open finalist, who also reached the Wimbledon semi-finals and the US Open quarter finals this season, was never in any real trouble against the Australian.

He served better (12 aces to 7), he retuned better (on both first and second serves) and he broke Vukic twice without ever facing a break point on his own serve. It was all over in 96 minutes and it was the perfect way to celebrate his 28th birthday.

Fritz awaits the winner of 13th seed Alexander Bublik and Frenchman Corentin Moutet in the third round.

With fellow Turin contenders Ben Shelton, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev also all claiming wins Tuesday, Fritz ensured that he remained next in line to qualify at fifth in the ATP Live Race to Turin.

Meanwhile, Cameron Norrie scored his first win over a world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz with a stunning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over the best player in the world.

The British lefty is into the round of 16 at a Masters 1000 event for the first time since Rome in 2023 and has equalled his best result in Paris (R3, 2021).

Alcaraz was competing for the first time since he won his Tour-leading eighth title of the season in Tokyo in late September and was far from his best in his eighth ATP head-to-head meeting with Norrie (5-3 in Alcaraz’s favour).

The top seed committed 54 unforced errors and uncharacteristically struggled with his timing and footwork for large periods.

Elsewhere, after five consecutive defeats, Andrey Rublev is now making hay as he beat Learner Tien 6-4, 6-4.

It may not have been the cleanest of matches (seven aces undone by seven double faults; 12 winners countered by 13 unforced errors) but he did run away with seven of the last 10 points of the match. It seems Rublev is back on track.

He will face Ben Shelton in the next round.

–IANS

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