Etcheverry Ends de Minaur's ATP Finals Dream in Paris Upset

Alex de Minaur's bid for a third straight ATP Finals appearance is over. The Australian eighth seed lost 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday, a defeat that leaves him stranded in ninth place in the Race to Turin with no more points available to him. Paris is the final qualifying event, and de Minaur needed one win to move past Rafael Jodar into the last qualifying spot. Instead, Etcheverry claimed his first victory over a top-10 player at the 21st attempt, breaking at a crucial moment in the second set after a double fault from de Minaur at 2-3, and never letting the match slip from there. The result also settled another piece of the Turin puzzle. Earlier on Wednesday, Quentin Halys saved four match points to beat Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (11-9), a result that confirmed Arthur Fils as the first Frenchman to reach the ATP Finals since Gael Monfils in 2016. For de Minaur, who arrived in Paris days after a heavy final defeat, it was a flat end to a strong season. For Etcheverry, it was the breakthrough win his ranking had long suggested was coming.