Djokovic beats defending champion Rune to reach Paris Masters semifinals

PARIS: Novak Djokovic took his revenge over defending champion Holger Rune to reach the semifinals of the Paris Masters after a nearly three-hour battle. The Dane beat Djokovic in last year's final but could not prevail this time. Djokovic won the quarterfinal match 7-5 6-7(3) 6-4 on Friday.

The top-ranked Djokovic, a six-time champion at the Paris Masters, advanced to the last four for the ninth time.

Rune saved a match point when trailing 5-4 in the second set and played an excellent tiebreaker to level at one-set apiece but Djokovic raised his level in the decider, dropping just three points on his serve.

Djokovic secured an early break in the third set and then played aggressively to keep Rune well behind the baseline. ''It was quite a similar match to last year's final, it was anybody's game in every set,'' the top-seeded Djokovic said.

''I played an awful tiebreak in the second set, probably the worst one this year. But again credit to him for staying mentally tough and playing solid. We have similar games. Move well, defend well and all-round players.'' Djokovic had a heated exchange with umpire Renaud Lichtenstein toward the end of the second set over a challenge by Rune and was booed by some sections of the lively Paris crowd after the Dane won the tiebreaker.

The result extended Djokovic's winning streak to 16 matches. He will meet the fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev for a place in the final. Rublev rallied to win 4-6 6-3 6-1 against Alex de Minaur, who had a walkover on Thursday after Jannik Sinner withdrew from the tournament in a scheduling protest.

Earlier, Grigor Dimitrov booked his spot in the semifinals with a 6-1 4-6 6-4 win over Hubert Hurkacz that ended his rival's hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals.

Despite hitting 19 aces, the 11th-seeded Hurkacz dropped his serve three times in their quarterfinal match. He can no longer finish among the top eight players of the season. The 32-year-old Dimitrov reached the last four at the indoor tournament for the second time in his career.

It's the first time since 2017 — the year he won the ATP Finals — that Dimitrov has reached 40 tour-level wins in a season. The Bulgarian will have the chance to improve that record against seventh-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals.

Dimitrov has been enjoying a good run of form, also reaching the semifinals at the Shanghai Masters last month.

''My body is feeling well for now, that's the most important thing,'' said Dimitrov, who converted all three break points he had. ''My head is good. If I'm able to play like that on a consistent basis throughout every game, I put myself in a position to do better. Today was no different.'' Hurkacz started poorly but fought hard to level at one set each before he was broken in the seventh game of the decider.

''(Hurkacz was) on fire definitely with the serves,'' Dimitrov said. ''I knew what to expect against him, but I wasn't sure if I was going to get a break. I had to stay very focused and every time I had the opportunity to get into a rally, I had to do something. A few points made a huge difference today.'' Tsitsipas had no problem beating Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-4 to post a 300th career-win and achieve a third consecutive semifinal appearance. Tsitsipas has yet to drop a set in Paris this week.